The Butterfly Effect
by The Scarlett Ribbon
Summary: There had been something like an understanding between them once, he thinks; the potential for something more. But with the memory of her shaking kunai and his maniacal laughter between them, neither can help but wonder if it is too late to go back.
1. Chapter One

When she found out they'd sent Naruto away on a 'top secret mission' Sakura did not take it well. Tsunade was due to leave for another meeting with the other Kages, but her apprentice was making it difficult. Scrolls and books littered the floor where she had thrown them in the height of their argument.

"He'll find out!" She shouted, ignoring Kakashi who was flinching behind his orange book and Shikamaru, who was trapped between her, the Hokage and the desk. "He'll find out and when he does he's going to do something _monumentally stupid!" _

"Sakura," Tsunade had a hand to her head looking deeply weary. "That's enough. What's done is done. The Kages feel that its best to keep two remaining hosts safely out of the way. Naruto had been sent on a fake mission for his own protection."

Sakura growled. Did they seriously think she didn't care about Naruto's safety? She'd _tried_ to protect him- she'd lied and made him hate her to do so.

"You can't protect him from this!" She countered, deeply angry now. "Naruto is the host of the nine tailed fox and we're about to go to war! This isn't something you can keep him out of! Its wrong of you to try!"

Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair, groping around in one of the drawers for something- a bottle of sake no doubt. Sakura rounded on Kakashi, who attempted to hide behind his book further, avoiding her eye.

"Tell her," Sakura's voice was trembling. "Tell her its not right! You know what he's like- when he finds out- and he will eventually, you know something bad will happen. We shouldn't lie to him."

"I don't recall you having a problem with it." Kakashi said quietly and Shikamaru inhaled, looking as though he was trying to make himself invisible without much success. Sakura recoiled as though he had slapped her.

"Don't imagine for even a moment that I haven't learned my lesson," she said in a much quieter voice. Everyone in the room flinched at the coldness radiating from her tone. "But then I suppose its all the same to you, isn't it Kakashi- _sensei," _she couldn't stop herself from adding a thick layer of sarcasm to the honorific.

"Your making a mistake Tsunade-shishou." She added and left her mentors office, slamming the doors open so hard that they cracked the walls they rebounded on.

"Sakura!" She heard her mentor call in exasperation and sorrow but she stormed down the corridor without turning around. _I hate him. I hate all of them. _

She was so tired she almost didn't notice Kakashi pop out of nowhere in front of her in time to stop herself from walking into him. He looked down at her, his one visible eye giving off a tangible air of disapproval. He'd put his book away now, she noticed and stood with his arms folded across his chest in the shadows of the Hokage Palace.

"Get out of my way," she snarled at him, wanting nothing more than to go far away and punch something to smithereens.

"I did not teach you to disrespect your superiors like that Sakura."

"You never taught me _anything!" _She exploded at him in a scream of anger. Her fists were clenched and her eyes stung and just for once, couldn't she stop what she felt from mattering so much? But she couldn't stop.

"You taught Naruto element based jutsu and you taught Sasuke" "- she inwardly winced at his name- "the chidori but you _never _even bothered trying to teach me."

Everything she had achieved she had had to fight for, scrabbling not to be forgotten or left behind. What right did this man have to lecture her? What had he ever done to merit her respect or loyalty?

Kakashi remained silent and Sakura swallowed back the bitterness with difficulty, choking on her hurt and anger.

"The Godaime will be busy finishing the ninja alliance," when he spoke at last his voice was filled with remorse. "But even so, we're stretched very thin on the ground for troops. You can't afford to be just a medic in this war Sakura. You have too much untapped potential to rely on just your super strength."

In a roundabout way, she recognised he was giving her the apology she needed. "I know."

"I think I have a few tricks left yet to teach you," he said. "If you'll let me."

She could have cried. But recently she suspected, she had cried herself out. Instead she hung her head, tired from her outburst and Kakashi put a tentative hand in her hair. It was as an affectionate a gesture as he had ever given her.

"And I thought you were the one I had to worry about the least," he laughed softly, but not at her. "Because I was too weak to make it past genin level." Her tone was still bitter, but not at him this time. Her sadness was infective; she could feel it oozing out of her and staining the evening sky.

"Because," he corrected her, "you were the only one who was ever genuinely happy." He ruffled her hair slightly, fingers mussing the silky pink strands and withdrew his hand. Kakashi looked sad behind his mask.

"Come on. You can treat me to dinner and we'll talk about training."

She had to laugh then despite herself. "Okay." She couldn't help but remember the only other time she had treated him for a meal and it bought a sharp pang of heartache to her chest.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she asked as they headed down the street towards Ichiraku's. They sat side by side, leaving two empty seats where Naruto and Sasuke used to be. She'd never really spent time with him by herself.

"Hmm?" He'd taken out his book again as they placed their orders. Sakura tried to find the words.

"Things are never going to go back to normal now, are they?"

He looked at her, a straight and honest look, over the top of his book. It was the first time he had really looked at her like she was an adult.

"No." He said. "They won't."

In the days that followed she found the training Kakashi lavished upon her was intense enough to make her stop having nightmares. First he started her on element based jutsu, discovering that she had an affinity for water and earth. She mastered the basics rapidly enough to make him blink in surprise and they moved on to the harder parts, like creating element based clones and using the two elements offensively. Within two days she could turn the water around her into ice spears and make the earth come alive in creeping tendrils that could pull her enemies into the ground where the earth would swallow them alive.

But that wasn't all they did. "Your chakra control is the best I've ever seen," Kakashi told her, impressed. "But your at a disadvantage in how much chakra you actually possess. You need to be able to conserve it if possible."

He pulled Sai from wherever he'd been skulking and got him to teach her how to use a katana whenever he had to attend to his other responsibilities. She was a little slower to master it than the jutsu, but she improved steadily.

"You are still a little prone to defensive action," Sai told her as she parried a blow and sent him sprawling backwards in the dust. "Nevertheless you are to be commended on your progress." He bought Sakura her own katana, the handle wrapped with red ribbon. It was the nicest thing he had ever done for her.

"Thank you!" Sakura was touched. When she hugged him he tensed under her, unsure of how to respond.

"You hug me back." She told him gently and he did so uncertainly. His face was adorably confused- but he placed in her a very childlike trust, she realised. Sai trusted her to instruct him in human interaction when he could not understand how to respond to a situation.

"Its an apology," he told her after a moment. "I think I may have been wrong in what I said to you regarding your team."

She sighed. "It doesn't matter now. Its done."

No matter how much she loved Sasuke, he had fallen far beyond her reach. She'd known that, but somehow she still couldn't bring herself to close that half inch between her kunai and his back. It didn't matter that she could shatter mountains with her fist. In the end, it had always been her feelings and not her abilities that made her weak.

Sai was reluctant to teach her how to stamp her emotions down, but she bullied him into it. "You cannot imagine what it is like not to feel," he said, "Or even what it is not to recognise your own feelings."

"I don't care," she told him bluntly. "Teach me. If you won't, I'll find someone who will."

He had been alarmed at her interacting with any former root members and promptly gave in.

"Alright," he'd agreed doubtfully. "If it will help Naruto."

So on the brink of war, Sakura trained. She trained with Kakashi every day that he was available. She sparred with anyone who could find the time; Hinata, Lee, Neji, Kiba, Ino, Shikamaru….

She got Shizune to show her how to use chakra scalpels and breathe poison at her enemies. Sai declared her more than proficient with a katana and showed her how to squash her feelings down. They were still there- she would never be able to stop what she felt- but she could stop what she felt from mattering. It was like putting a barrier of ice around her heart, so nothing could get out and no one could get in.

Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves shuddered in the verge of war. No one noticed as Sakura Haruno slowly turned her insides to stone.

The unforeseen consequences of transplanting his brothers eyes into his own sockets, was the unexpected perspective he got with it. For years he'd been seeing the world, not in black or white, or shades of grey, but in crimson. Looking through Itachi's eyes was a bit like applying bleach to the bloodstains. His tunnel vision was dissolving in random splotches, allowing something other than hatred and insanity to shine through. And Sasuke- ever certain Uchiha Sasuke- faltered. Just a little bit.

That was when the dreams started coming back; three stripes of sunlight across the forest floor- quiet footsteps at his back- a hundred tears for the death he didn't die.

Once- a long time ago it seemed now- he had dreamt of his team on those nights when he was so exhausted by the training Orochimaru threw at him that he couldn't prevent it. Sasuke was good with masks. Itachi had been better.

_What are you doing, little brother? _He could feel, like a palpable thing, his dead brother's curiosity. His disappointment.

Back in the days when he still respected his sensei, he might have wondered if it was actually his own conscience doing its best to speak up by taking the form of the person he loved and hated the most- the only person in the world to whom he would listen. (_Live your life in the most despicable way. Your hatred is yet lacking.) _

But Sasuke had become a murderer several times over. He had plucked his brother's eyes from his cold dead corpse to save himself from blindness. He had betrayed his team mates- both sets- and tried to kill a girl while her back was turned. He wasn't sure he had much of a conscience anymore.

It did not occur to him that just thinking about the matter of his conscience was already a small step back from the darkness he had embraced as he sat at Madara's feet.


	2. Chapter Two

"100 more laps around Konoha!" Lee yelled, nothing more than a green blur in front of her. Sakura had already run ninety nine laps and her legs were beginning to tire. Her skin was covered in a sheen of sweat but she didn't care. She grit her teeth and ran faster. Beside her, Hinata also strained to keep the pace. Sakura suspected that they were both thinking of Naruto and his boundless void of energy. He could probably run 200 laps around Konoha easily.

"This- this is rather- challenging." Hinata gasped, above the sound of their laborious breathing and pounding footfalls. Strands of her hair were sticking to her face, which was shiny with perspiration.

"Keep going Hinata," Neji spoke up from a few paces behind them. Sakura had no doubt that he was running with them to keep an eye on his younger cousin as much to improve his own stamina. Everyone was pushing at a record pace to improve themselves before the fighting really began.

The sun beat down on their backs. Sakura felt the back of her neck burning under its intense glare and her vision was swimming with the heat, but she didn't slow down.

_I can do this. _

"Doesn't he ever get tired?" She asked, breathing hard.

"Rarely." Neji answered tersely. "Both he and Gai-sensei frequently turn the most mundane things into competitions. It gets very irritating."

Sakura let out a snort of sardonic amusement, unable to help herself. She remembered Naruto and Sasuke behaving like that. It suddenly seemed a very long time ago, like part of a life that had happened to someone else entirely. Her face hardened as she put on another burst of speed.

"Sakura-san!" Hinata struggled to catch up, her face creased in concentration.

"Come on," Sakura urged her, "We can do this. _You _can do this Hinata."

"Yes." The other girl nodded with steely resolve, drawing level and Neji appeared on her other side, the three of them running in a straight formation. It was almost impossible for her to breathe now- it was all Sakura could do to draw in short, sharp gulps of air to stop her lungs from completely seizing up. Every muscle in her legs felt like it was on fire; she was pretty certain that they would give out the moment she stopped moving.

But she didn't stop moving. Though every step was a moment of screaming agony she kept at it, keeping count in her head.

132 laps…_Keep going. Every lap is a life you will save because you can keep fighting. Naruto never gives up- and neither should you. _175 laps…_You can't stop when you think the war is almost over. Push harder than ever to finish it. Don't fail at the last hurdle. Don't be a failure anymore Sakura._

200 laps- She collapsed onto the grass, barely aware of Lee a few paces ahead going through a series of stretches. Sakura knew she should be doing the same, but she couldn't catch her breath. Hinata collapsed face down beside her trembling from exertion and even Neji sank to his knees looking like he might choke on his lungs.

"Yosh!" Lee was alarmed. "You must stretch to stop your muscles from seizing up. Sakura you're a medical ninja, you should know this!"

_I know, _she wanted to say. _I will in a minute. Can't you see we're having difficulty breathing here? _ Not everyone was a maniac in a green jump suit. After a minute, Sakura hauled herself to her feet and started to stretch, already feeling her muscles cramp in resistance.

"Get up," she told the other two. "If you don't stretch every one of your muscles will seize up and you won't be able to move properly for days."

Neji obediently rolled to his feet in a fluid motion and pulled his cousin upright none too gently.

"Stretch," he told her- and the three of them copied Lee's movements. She sighed as she felt her limbs slowly unwind, though every part of her still felt weak and shaky.

"That was very impressive," Lee told her as she finished the last of the stretches with a grimace. "Well done Sakura."

She gave him a long sideways look. "Thanks for helping me Lee." _You don't know how much I _need _to be stronger and faster. You have no idea how far I still have to go. _

"It's no problem! Tomorrow we'll be doing 300 laps!" He directed the latter part of that speech to Hinata and Neji too. Neither looked particularly enthused.

Sakura checked her watch, swiping her other hand across her forehead. "I've gotta go. Same time tomorrow?"

"We'll be here," Neji said and Sakura made her exit, speeding from the cool and leafy glade they'd been resting in across Konoha's newly rebuilt rooftops. The construction work wasn't finished yet, but the Village was emptying nevertheless. Every day more civilians joined the ranks of the evacuees being taken to a fortified location out of harms way. Her mother was supposed to be leaving soon; she just had time for a shower at her apartment –a small one bedroom gift from Yamato- before she intended to see her off. She wasn't looking forward to that moment.

When Pein had destroyed the village, her childhood home had been flattened along with everything else. Her mother had been among the dead, though Sakura hadn't known that until the aftermath, when all the victims had suddenly come back to life. Things had been sticky between them since then, the older woman unable to understand why her daughter would choose the life of a kunoichi and the bloodshed it entailed.

Sakura pulled in at her sparse apartment- sparse because her only possessions were the things she'd had on her the day of the invasion- her clothes, her weapons and a photograph. She couldn't say why she'd had it with her. She'd just had a feeling that morning, she supposed- something that prompted her to take the photo from its frame and fold it into the pocket of her skirt. It might be creased and crumpled, but Sakura still had it, the proof that Team 7 had really truly existed.

She stripped, clambered into the shower and considered simply throwing the picture away. There wasn't a whole lot of point holding on to it anymore.

Feeling cleaner, if still rather sore, she examined her reflection in the bathroom mirror, wiping away the condensation with the palm of her hand. Her skin was browning nicely from all her time spent outdoors training and her hair was lighter than ever having been bleached by the light of the sun. She thought she might grow it out.

_It doesn't matter if Sasuke liked girls with long hair, or if it made me look weak. _I _prefer my hair long. _

It was the last thing she should be thinking about, Sakura knew. But it was easier than thinking about her increasingly frequent nightmares or the things yet to come. It was easier than thinking about how badly she had tried to protect Naruto and had only succeeded in letting him down.

_You lost your faith in us, _his eyes had seemed to say. _We made a promise, remember? _

Still staring in the mirror, she held a hand up to her throat where the bruises had been. Sometimes she woke up feeling the ghost of a stranglehold around her neck, choking the life out of her piece by piece. She remembered Sasuke's insane red eyes.

_No. _She refused to think about it and dressed in a spare set of clothes instead, yanking a brush through her wet hair to smooth out the tangles. She had things to do.

Her mother was sat on her veranda when Sakura got there, arms folded stubbornly across her chest, lips set in a mulish line. The only physical characteristic they had in common was their eye colour.

"I don't see why I have to leave my own home," she muttered darkly. "These ninja think they rule the world don't they?"

"I_ am_ a ninja," Sakura reminded her, picking up her mother's bag with ease. "And you have to leave because a war is about to start. Do you think I want you caught in the middle of that?"

Her mother was stubborn. She was being told something that she refused to comprehend. "Then why aren't you coming too? Darling, you're just a child. You have to come with me and stay safe. There's nothing you can do to help, don't you see? It's not your responsibility-"

"I'm not a child mother. I am a kunoichi. It is my duty to defend the Village and all its citizens."

A metallic taste filled her mouth.

"You're sixteen!"

Her mother was sobbing now, green eyes bright with desperation and disbelief. She had her arms hugged around her middle as though she was trying to protect herself from the reality that Sakura would be actively participating in a war she had no control over.

"I am also a highly skilled medic-nin and a chunnin to boot. I am the Hokage's apprentice." She softened her voice. "Skill is not dictated by age."

"Sakura- I won't leave you! I won't let you get yourself killed in some god-awful war that has nothing to do with us-"

Sakura sighed and flash stepped behind her mother, avoiding her outstretched arms. "Nothing to do with you," she corrected gently and rendered her unconscious. The irony of it wasn't lost on her, as she carried her mother to an approaching wagon.

"Hey!" She hailed the driver- a genin team charged with escorting civilians to their safe location. "Stop."

"Sakura!" It was Konohamaru and one of his team mates. Moegi. "Who's that old lady?"

Sakura gently set her mother down beside some anxious looking civilians and hoisted her bag up beside her.

"No one," Sakura said, "Just a patient. She was in a state of considerable anxiety and had to be given a sedative before travelling."

Konohamaru gave her a funny look but shrugged. "Alright. Hey, do you know where Naruto nii-san is? I wanted him to help me train!"

Sakura was startled. "He's been sent away for awhile," she replied. "Are you fighting then?"

"Of course," Moegi piped up from beside her team mate. "We're genin not kids!"

Sakura fought to hide a fond smile. If only they knew how small and vulnerable they still looked. But she couldn't deny that Konoha needed every ninja who was up to the job. Besides, they probably should have been taking their chunnin exam if it wasn't for the outbreak of war.

"When do you get back from the hideout?" She asked.

"We should be back by this time tomorrow. I think."

"Come and find me, okay? There's some pretty useful stuff I can teach the three of you."

They nodded wildly. Konohamaru had been on the receiving end of her fierce nature and they had all been there at her second chunnin exam. They knew the minimum of what she was capable of.

"See you tomorrow Sakura-san!" She stood watching as they drove off with her mother in tow. It could be the last time she would ever see her for all she knew, but she was more concerned with the matter of teaching Konohamaru's team. Naruto would worry about them if he was here, so she was doing it as much for him as she was to try and keep them alive.

"Do you have time to teach them?" Shikamaru asked, appearing beside her in an uncharacteristic silence. "Seems like a drag to me."

Sakura glanced at him, finally looking away from the wagon of civilians. "Not really. I'll have to _make _the time." She sighed. "Have you seen Ino?"

"Last I heard she was headed over to interrogation."

She nodded. Things were getting intensely busy in Konoha as the higher ups tried to find out all they could from those they held prisoner before they moved out to war. The red head who had belonged to Sasuke's team had become an invaluable source of information on Akatsuki- and since she was giving it freely Tsunade had seen fit to treat her leniently. Part of Sakura wanted to talk to this woman- Karin, if she recalled her name correctly- about Sasuke. She wanted to find out how he had changed, if there was any part of him still left behind his insanity that she might recognise, but a more cowardly part of her wanted to run away from her - away from her and all the things she knew about the person that Sasuke had become.

_Monster, _she thought. _Sasuke is becoming a monster. _Just thinking it threatened to plunge her into the depths of despair.

"You look pretty beat." Shikamaru added, lighting a cigarette with narrowed eyes.

"You try running two hundred laps around the Village." She snapped. She was, in fact, ready to collapse into the closest she could get to a dreamless sleep. Her bed consisted of a mattress on the floor, but nonetheless Sakura thought of it longingly. "It tires you out, you know."

They watched a stream of civilians pass by on foot, loaded down with their most precious belongings as they evacuated their home. In a matter of days Konoha would be completely empty.

"Geez." He blew a smoke ring in her face. "Two hundred laps? What the hell possessed you to do that, Sakura?"

She ignored him, waving the cigarette smoke out of her face with a grimace. "If you don't get killed in this war, those things will do it for you." But she knew why he smoked. It reminded him of Asuma-sensei and of better, happier times. He smoked for the same reason that she held onto a battered photograph, both of them prizing the physical reminders of the past.

"She's worried about you, you know." He accused, inhaling another drag of the cigarette.

"Who?"

"Ino." Another puff. He offered it to Sakura, who shrugged and put it to her lips, inhaling. For a moment she wanted to choke on the smoke, but she figured out how to do it pretty quickly and the action of smoking become more natural even if she did think it was a disgusting habit. She quickly resolved never to do it again and handed the cigarette back.

"Doesn't she have better things to worry about? Given the situation, I think her priorities are a little off."

"She said your getting emotion training from Sai. Tell me that isn't a cause for worry."

Sakura folded her arms defensively. "It's necessary Shikamaru. I'm not- I'm not like Naruto."

He stared at her long and hard, dark eyes narrowed as he took in her guilty eyes and hunched shoulders. They had become good enough friends that he could interpret exactly what that look meant. She didn't stay up late at night on his bed telling him her deepest darkest fears and secrets while he painted her toenails, but in a lot of ways he knew her as well as Ino because being remarkably perceptive, he could read between the lines.

"This has something to do with Sasuke," he said with an exasperated sigh.

"Doesn't it always?" Her voice was bitter as she laughed.

"You never told us what happened that day."

She bit her lip and looked away, features marring in an obstinate frown in order to stop her eyes from watering. "I let everyone down. That's what happened."

He sighed and stomped on the cigarette, extinguishing it with his foot. "Sasuke is an s-class missing nin." He said. "It's nothing to be ashamed of that you were unable to kill him."

She didn't look at him. She didn't say anything because she couldn't bear to let him know just how pathetic she really was.

"I couldn't tell Naruto what I was trying to do." She said instead. "I told him I loved him and to forget about Sasuke instead. But he knew I was lying." She scuffed the ground with her toe. "And now I'm pretty sure he hates me for it." _Because he always had a crush on me- and I used that against him. _

"Everything is a mess." She finished lamely.

"It's not your fault Sakura." Shikamaru was looking grim. Everyone looked so serious these days and for a moment she missed his default bored expression. She missed bickering with Ino and shouting at Kakashi for being late and actually having a relationship with her mother. She missed the things she used to have that she took for granted.

"I have to go," she turned away, heading back towards her apartment. "Tell Ino to quit worrying or she'll be the one with wrinkles on her forehead."

Tired as she was, Sakura couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned until the early hours of the morning, alternating between staring at her blank ceiling or the glimpse of starry sky she could see out of her bedroom window. Everything was so still.

Eventually she gave up her attempts to sleep and moved to sit by the open window, letting a soft breeze stir through her messy hair. She could make out the form of Konoha's newly rebuilt silhouette against the sky, the smell of wood chippings and dust scenting the cool morning air. Would it still be here when the War was over? How harrowing it would be if after all that, they had to face the prospect of rebuilding their home all over again. Worse still was the knowledge that no matter whether or not her village would still be standing, some of them would not be coming home. Her people were going to die.

"_Do you know what I want? I want to destroy Konoha!" _How many of her friends would die at Sasuke's hands?

It was a question she could not answer. At the first hurdle she had already proven that Sasuke was her greatest weakness; she had been unable to close that half inch between her kunai and his back.

But if one of her friends was held in the balance- would she deal a killing blow then? She didn't know and her uncertainty disgusted her.

_How many of my friends will die because of _me?

She clenched her fists and took a deep shuddering breath. She thought of what Sai had told her about killing your emotions, or at the very least, suppressing them. "The key is to picture yourself as a blank slate." He had said. Sakura was trying.

Somewhere out there, she knew, Sasuke was under the same sky as her. Though Sakura had resolved to let Naruto deal with him, all those days ago at their last meeting she had a feeling things wouldn't turn out that way. Naruto had been hidden away with no idea they were even going to war- and she could not dismiss the strong possibility of meeting Sasuke on the battlefield when it started. She had no intention of seeking him out, but she had to be prepared for a second test of her loyalty.

Despite everything he had done, despite the manic intent in those blood red eyes, when it came to Sasuke all bets were off. Something inside her wavered at the sight of his face, even if she could barely recognise the person behind it anymore.

She thought of Ino. She thought of Shikamaru and Hinata and Kiba and Tenten and Neji and all of rookie nine. She thought of Tsunade and Shizune. And tonton.

She was terrified of the weakness she had already displayed- and the choices she had yet to make.


	3. Chapter Three

The scratchy material of the bandages against his eyelids bothered him. His eyes- no, _Itachi's eyes_- itched in their sockets, just slightly. Maybe it was his imagination, but something about the whole transplant felt dirty - dirty and wrong. Maybe his eyes were infected. That was probably it.

_What are you doing little brother? _

"Shut up." He muttered, alone in the darkness. But he couldn't stop himself from pondering the question; what was he doing, sitting around waiting for his vision to come back? Why hadn't Madara gotten a healer to speed things up? _It must serve his purpose for you to remain incapacitated. _

Sasuke couldn't honestly say he knew what Madara was planning next, but then, he told himself with an unfamiliar feeling in his chest, he didn't actually care. He didn't. As long as he got to fight with Naruto and finally, _finally _squash him down into the ground he didn't care what Madara was up to. Not yet anyway; he'd deal with him last of all."_I used to hate them all too. There were times when I wanted revenge…" _A different voice popped into his head, unbidden and unwanted. _"One misstep and maybe I would have come to the same horrible conclusion you did." _

Was it a horrible conclusion? Revenge…justice- what was the difference? Konoha had murdered his family, made a monster out of the person he loved most in the world. His entire life had been built on lies. His jaw clenched against the tight feeling in his throat, his hands knotting into fists on his knees. Sasuke hated not being able to see. His blindness- however temporary- had forced him to simply _stop _for the first time since Madara had unleashed the terrible burden of the truth onto his shoulders and the clarity he had felt, his clear vision of the future had clouded over.

He remembered his own words, his steel resolve. _"Nothing you can say will change my mind now. I am going to kill you and everyone in the village!" _Why couldn't he seem to get that conviction back?

"_Sakura_." For someone who was always so obnoxiously late, Kakashi was not what you would call a patient man. He stood in Sakura's tiny living room, a hand on his hip and his one visible eye clearly betraying his exasperation.

"Yeah alright," she waved a hand at him through the open door leading into her bedroom but made no move to join him. Instead she took a long look at herself in her mirror. For the first time, she was dressed in black ninja gear, not a trace of her tell tale red or pink signature colours anywhere on her uniform. Over that she had shrugged on the new green vest that her sensei favoured- the material of it had that annoying stiff feeling that meant it had never been worn and her katana was strapped to her back.

_Time to go idiot, _she thought and looked down at the photograph in her hands. It was creased and slightly grubby looking, definitely the worse for wear since she'd inexplicably taken it from its frame weeks ago. Though she'd taken to keeping it on her person, folded over and stuffed in an inside pocket near her heart, just looking at it now made her ache with more sadness than she knew what to do with. The sight of their faces- _so young, _she realised now, _we were _so_ young-_ had begun to hurt in ways she did not completely understand.

"Sakura, I know you're my best student but really. Being late for a war is going a little far in your efforts to emulate my skill."

"Now you know how we felt all those time you showed up to training three hours late." She replied absently, making a decision.

"I think you'll find this is a little bit different." Kakashi said sarcastically as she appeared in the living room beside him. "We'd better hurry- Tsunade will have my head if we show up any later than mid-day."

She had to grin at that, the idea of her two teachers going for each others throats. She wondered who would come out of top- granted no one could stand up to the Hokage's super strength and volatile temper but Kakashi was phenomenally good at what Sakura had come to term 'slithering out'.

Tsunade had already left for the designated assembly point for the five nations three days ago, leaving Shizune and Kakashi behind to organise the mobilisation of the Konoha shinobi. All the civilians were gone; today was the day her village would completely empty. For better or worse, the wait was almost over. The tide was closing in.

Her friends were waiting for her at the gates, clustered together in their original team formations, all of them clad in the same combination of black clothes and green vests. Beyond them were various other ninja- ANBU and jounin talking in two's and three's looking grim, a few handpicked genin hovering uncertainly around the adults. "Hurry up forehead!" Ino yelled the minute Sakura and Kakashi came into view. There was something about the old nickname that, just for a moment, broke the thick underlying tension that had started to smother them. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, Neji face-palmed and Tenten snorted with laughter.

"I-Ino!" Hinata protested. "That's not very nice." All the girls knew how Sakura had once obsessed over the size of what her blonde friend had labelled her 'billboard brow'.

"Shut it Ino-pig." Sakura sniped back, coming to a stop beside them. "A real lady is always fashionably late. You know that." Sai popped up by her shoulder looking curious, his mouth opening to ask a question. He closed it again as Sakura sent him a threatening look that promised swift retribution if he insulted her.

"Well done," she told him in an undertone. "You're getting better at this." Sai didn't smile exactly, but his dark eyes became a little less blank, his face a little less mask like. He looked alive underneath his skin. He was yet another person that she knew she would not be able to stand to lose. Kakashi laid a hand on both of their shoulders-and like a ripple in a pond everyone turned to stare at him.

He nodded once, a clear signal and the higher ups immediately moved out, the genin hastening to follow for safety reasons. Sakura and her friends held their breath before meeting that inevitable fate- departure. The air seemed to shiver as they took to the trees. Sakura lingered just a fraction of s second longer, looking back at the deserted streets and empty rooftops of her home before she too left.

Kumogakure was a mountainous country with a harsh landscape of rock and sparse vegetation. Or perhaps it just seemed that way to Sakura, who had grown up in a land of green woods and long grass to offer cover. As the Konoha ninja made their way up the craggy mountains towards the Village Hidden in the Clouds, she felt summarily exposed, though she could tell she wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Kiba, several places ahead in their formation was sniffing distrustfully at their surroundings, his head whipping around sharply to gaze in every direction. Shikamaru had his hands clenched in his pockets and Kakashi's posture lacked its usual complacent slouch.

"I'll feel a lot better when we finally get to this bloody Hidden Village," Ino muttered to Sakura in an undertone. "I feel like people can see us from miles away. You might as well stick a giant announcement on your forehead announcing 'Konoha ninja pick us off at your leisure.'"

Her blonde friend stumbled on a loose rock and Sakura automatically moved to steady her. Her eyes however, were on Neji and Hinata at that moment. The Land of Lightening held bad blood in the Hyuuga clan and she was suddenly worried that the memories it would evoke in the two cousins would bode ill for them. A thin layer of tension was hovering over the procession. More than ever, Sakura wished Naruto was with them; he had the sort of boisterous personality that would cut through the edginess like a knife.

"Careful Pig," she said. "You're getting paranoid in your old age." Ino pulled a face and they traipsed on in a heavy silence, every ear among them listening keenly for a sound that was out of place.

When at last their destination came into view, everyone breathed a visible sigh of relief. The Village was already bustling with Shinobi from other nations, though in the distance Sakura could make out a rather magnificent tent that was easily identifiable as Tsunade's by its leaf insignia embroidered on the front. Kakashi led them through the muttering crowd looking grim, keeping Sakura close to his side with a warning glance.

"Sakura!" A familiar voice called from somewhere to her right; she halted looking in that direction.

"Temari?" The older blonde haired girl appeared with a smile like broken glass, Kankuro just behind her in his trademark war paint.

"Hi," she tried to smile but it felt rather forced. Her muscles seemed to have forgotten how to do something that used to feel so natural to her. "How long have you guys been here?"

Kankuro sagged on her shoulder with poor grace. "We've been here for _days _Haruno," he groaned. "Gaara had to come and he dragged our sorry asses along with him."

"I assume he's with the other Kages?"

"Yeah. Their all holed up sorting out the last minute details. They've just released the new alliance headbands- that was a nightmare." Temari sighed and ran a hand through her bedraggled hair. She turned to address Kakashi. "Anyway, we'll take you to Fire Country headquarters so you can get settled and organised."

"Thanks." Kakashi nodded and strolled lazily after her. Kankuro still had his arm draped over Sakura's shoulder. He grinned when he spotted the katana strapped to her back.

"So, learned a few new tricks have we? What- super strength not cutting it for you anymore?"

Face blank, she replied. "New skills or not, I still know how to stop your heart with a twitch of my fingers."

He roared with laughter at that. "Kid, I wish you were on my squad," he chuckled. "I'd feel a lot better with you at my back."

"_Kid?"_

"Sure. I can call you kid, you're younger than me Haruno."

"Sometimes I regret saving your life," Sakura said sourly. For a moment- just a moment, she could almost forget why they were all there. It didn't last for long.

Sasuke dreamed.

He dreamed that his mother and father and Itachi were sat at the kitchen table waiting for him like it was any other day; Mikoto smiling brightly in his direction, Fugaku looking at him expectantly and his brother's gentle eyes beckoning him forward. Sunlight poured in through the window above the sink. Even as he approached, cracks appeared in their skin, black and threatening, snaking their way across their faces and shadows loomed up behind them. Blood splattered on the walls. He recoiled, horror screaming its way out of his throat.

"_Sasuke!"_ Soft familiar voices called and he turned away from the darkness. In the distance he could just make out three figures waving at him, one tall and lanky holding an orange book, one an obnoxious kid yelling and bouncing around with a wide grin and the last a pink haired girl with her hands clasped to her chest. They were stood amid green trees, three posts a little way behind them.

"_Sasuke!" _They were becoming clearer every second, little details jumping out at him. Though he could still smell the copper tang of blood, he could feel the shadows slowly retreating.

"_Sasuke!"_ Team 7 called. _"Come home!"_

_A/n: My God Sasuke is becoming harder and harder to write. Consequence of switching back between him and Sakura's pov's I suppose, as they are completely different characters, though looking back at the drabble I've been blurting out on my computer I guess they are both having similar crisises of loyalty. I'm convinced Naruto will help him see the light when they FINALLY have their epic showdown though. Yeah. _

_Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for the reviews I've received so far, especially _Sakura's Indecision _who has been really lovely and really helpful. Its nice to know my virtually plotless little introspective drabble thing makes some kind of sense :) So thanks! _


	4. Chapter Four

Sakura had been in battle before- but never like this.

Her fight to the death with Sasori had pushed her to her very limits, she remembered, it had seemed like the entire world had hung on that endless, bloody encounter. But it had been _her _fight. No one had ever trusted her to be capable of fighting her own battles before and yet there she was, after two and a half years- and she was equal to it.

But that had been a battle with three players- _this _on the other hand, well…this was a war.

The noise was deafening. Her ears were full of the sound of clashing metal- kunai on kunai, katana on shuriken- splattering blood and the frenzied shouts and screams of her comrades as they fought against Madara's army. But that was all she knew of them; she had her own opponents to deal with.

_Left! _She thought, just managing to avoid being sliced in half by her opponent, one of the seven swordsmen from the Mist. Tall, thin and deadly, she had witnessed him slice through ten of her comrades with his longsword and then stitch them all together disjointedly before she joined the fray about half an hour ago. He moved blindingly fast- the sword came out of nowhere in a powerful swipe that was aimed to separate her legs from her body- and Sakura jumped, twisting in midair as she brought her katana down on his outstretched arm.

He parried the blow though, with a force that would have paralysed all the muscles in her arm if she didn't have her superhuman strength. The fight was starting to take its toll on her body; she just didn't have the stamina that Naruto had, not yet and she was already bleeding from a vicious gash to her shoulder.

_I can't see in this mist,_ she thought weighing up her situation, _and neither can anyone else. It's just a matter of time before they pick us all off, one by one. We're at a major disadvantage. _

The Nara team had their shadow jutsu to incapacitate the swordsmen and Kakashi had the sharingan to predict their every move- but what did she have that would keep her alive? She had to do something to end this fight and quickly.

Using the momentum of his block against him, Sakura skidded back in the dirt and brought her free fist down on the ground, shattering it instantly. Earth exploded upwards, temporarily hiding her from view while her opponent was knocked off his feet by the force of her punch.

_Water is no good, _she realised, _and poison won't kill them. I can't incapacitate him with a sword, but- _

She rapidly went through the hand signs for a clone jutsu and immediately two of herself appeared by her side in a puff of smoke. She couldn't form an army of clones like Naruto, but that didn't mean she was useless at it.

"Distraction," she ordered the clone on her left, who sprang forward into the mist with a look of grim determination and a fierce battle cry. She turned to her second clone, who grinned back at her. "Way ahead of you."

Sakura concealed herself in the broken ground as Kakashi had often done when sparring her and Naruto, while the second clone slipped into the midst silently. As her first clone fought her opponent with the katana, the second waited patiently for an opening. For anyone else it would have been a challenge, simultaneously using and suppressing their chakra levels while maintaining a clone jutsu- but Sakura had control that bested anyone else's in the Five Shinobi Nations, apart from maybe Tsunade herself. And she had learned to be clever with it.

Her fingers twitched, threading chakra up through the cracks in the ground with delicate precision until she found her target. Her clone was doing an admirable job, lunging and parrying to the left and right, moving with a speed that Sakura would never have believed herself capable of two weeks ago and her opponent- _Kuriarare, _she thought she'd heard Kakashi call him before the battle truly started- matched her blow for blow.

"Just a little more…" she murmured, her focus split in three different directions. It was just a matter of timing-

Kuriarare changed the direction of his strike very suddenly and the clone didn't quite manage to block it in time. As it tore through her neck, the second clone surged into movement, chakra scalpels blazing in both hands; he turned to decapitate her as she sliced through his arms, severing the muscles almost instantly.

"Now!" The clone shouted, both clones vanishing in a puff of smoke and Sakura tightened the chakra strings looped around Kuriarare's feet with a clench of her fist. He fell to the ground, arms hanging uselessly by his side with a snarl from behind the mask.

She summoned her chakra as she exploded upwards from the ground, keeping her hands in the seals she'd practised with Kakashi for days-

The earth came alive with a vengeance; snakelike tendrils as thick as three trunks shot up and latched onto the swordsman by his incapacitated limbs, wrapping around and around until he was as tightly bound as a caterpillar in a cocoon.

"I think I'll have your sword," she said, as the earth dragged him irresistibly into the ground and pulled him down, down down…

The ground closed up behind him without a blemish, not so much as an indication to show where it had swallowed her opponent whole and Sakura ended the jutsu, feeling the beginnings of the strain in her system. That had cost her more chakra than she would have liked, her arms were already tiring with her use of the katana and she hadn't yet had the chance to heal herself.

"That was tough," she muttered, seizing up the dropped longsword and darting away from the spot, intending to regroup with Kakashi immediately. She'd last seen him battling Zabuzza and Haku, but that had been awhile ago- and she wasn't sure where that particular show down had moved to while she'd been preoccupied.

She flitted through the mist, dodging shuriken and stray kunais, relying more on her hearing then her sight to keep her out of their trajectory and checking the limp bodies lying in her bath for survivors.

"Haruno-sama…" a bloodied shinobi gasped as she approached and she made a beeline for him, hands already outstretched to examine his brutal injuries.

"It's alright," she told him calmly, following the internal damage with her chakra; already she had slipped from kunoichi to her medic-persona. "Don't say anything. You need to save your energy."

Just a brief look told her the man had a ruptured spleen, six broken ribs and multiple stab wounds, but she could tell he had many more less immediately life threatening injuries that would quickly take their toll unless she healed him in the most methodical way possible. Hands glowing with healing chakra, she tried to fix the most life threatening wounds first and stop the bleeding, but his stomach had been pierced and was leaking acid into his internal organs all the time. One of his lungs had deflated where a rib had gone through it and both were filling up with blood-

_I can fix him, _she told herself, attempting to repair his stomach lining and close up the gaping wound in his neck at the same time. _It's not too late, I can do it. I can save this mans life. _

His breathing worried her immensely; it was shallow and rattled in his chest when he wasn't coughing up blood-

"SAKURA!" A voice yelled from somewhere to the right and broke her concentration. Her chakra faltered as something lunged at her from out of the mist.

* * *

The bandages fell to the floor with the quietest of fluttering sounds, a soft whisper of gauze whooshing through the air. For a moment the light flared through his closed eyelids, turning his vision a sudden deep red. And then he opened his eyes.

The clarity that met him made Sasuke realise just how bad his eyesight had gotten in the last few- well, year actually. Insignificant little details of his surroundings jumped out at him- the uneven texture of the walls, the tiny cracks in the floors, the warped shape of the wooden door….

All these he would have missed a few weeks ago. It had been so long since he had seen the world this clearly.

"Wha-"

The uncharacteristic surprise in Zetsu's voice made him smirk. Sasuke unleashed the full force of his sharingan with the same wild high he had felt staring down at Danzou's corpse.

Though he had entered the world of the mangkyo several times, he had never been at liberty to control it. Itachi had always had the power here, _always, _just as he had held the power over Sasuke's head in ever other aspect of his life. But Sasuke owned that particular power now.

He focused on Zetsu's lithe form, catching his eye and drawing him into the illusionary world before the freak knew what had happened. Madara's lapdog went completely still, his strange eyes glazing over and Sasuke took a moment to enjoy it, before stabbing him through the chest with a chidori.

The familiar crackle of lightning was oddly reassuring to his ears. But it had always been that way. He had always felt better after deciding on a course of action; after the massacre all those years ago- and here his mind flinched inwardly away from the ever vivid memories of all that blood- Sasuke had succeeded in dragging himself up and out of that catatonic grief only by deciding upon revenge. Despite all outward appearances he had never been a patient person, not really. There was always a ticking clock measuring up his progress- no matter how far he came, Itachi had always been miles and miles ahead…..

Zetsu's limp white body smacked into the ground, a huge hole smoking in his chest, eyes staring sightlessly upwards. It had all happened so fast that Sasuke doubted he had even realised what had happened.

He suddenly wondered if Sakura would have looked like that if he had succeeded in killing her. The memory of her wide green eyes floated to the surface of his mind, full of a vivid betrayal.

_It doesn't matter, _he thought determinedly, pushing the thought away.

After all it was she and the rest of Konoha who had betrayed _him, _was it not? She had never meant anything to him; none of them had ever meant anything to him. If Naruto had not come along she would be dead, Kakashi too.

Right?

"You," Sasuke turned, his hand still crackling with the remains of his chidori and the man on the floor attempted to shift away from him, a course of action made more difficult by the binds holding him. His eyes were wide with something like fear. Sasuke felt a sick smile creep across his face. How stupid did Madara and Kabuto think he was anyway? Just because he couldn't see until a few minutes ago, didn't mean he was deaf. He knew who this man was.

His sharingan was blazing as he advanced on the bound man. "Look at me."

Slowly, as though compelled against his will by the intensity in Sasuke's voice, Yamato looked up at him with something akin to repulsion in his eyes.

"Now," Sasuke said, activating the mangekyo with another thrill of excitement. "Tell me- _where is Naruto Uzumaki?" _

_

* * *

_

She was sent flying backwards into the ground, a pair of clammy hands closing around her throat. The impact jarred her spine and knocked the breath out of her, making Sakura slower than usual to fight back against the dead weight pinning her down.

"Get off!" She snarled, kicking out with a chakra enhanced kick- the blow should have sent her new opponent flying but he seemed to liquefy his form into water instead and neutralise the impact. A watery hand pressed over her mouth, rivulets of its streaming down her throat and choking her, despite her struggles. She couldn't breathe; her first few attempts only had her inhaling water and seizing up her lungs. Above her all she could make out was a glimmer of serrated teeth.

"Time to die!" He told her in an almost gleeful voice- and Sakura couldn't believe that she was going to die, here, choking on a watery fist after everything she had been through. She refused.

"Get off her!" A new voice yelled from somewhere nearby and her liquid opponent was suddenly hauled backwards like a puppet that had had its strings pulled. Sakura rolled to her feet, a hand pressed to her lungs as she used chakra to pump the water out of her lungs. It spewed from her lips in an alarming quantity- coughing and retching in equal measure, she looked up to see her rescuer (and how she hated that word).

Kankuro was stood to her right, his outstretched hand aglow with chakra threads that were looped around the swordsman who had attacked her. She watched, still fascinated by the technique, as the enemy shinobi moved in relation to Kankuro's twitching fingers.

"Still think you can take me, kid?" He called, not looking over his shoulder.

"Easily," she quipped, darting back to the injured man's side. But she was too late- those minutes in which she had struggled with the man on top of her had been precious and wasted. He was dead.

"Kankuro!" Sakura yelled, a hot pulsing fury rising through her. Her fists clenched by her sides, eyes narrowed dangerously. She could have saved him! If she hadn't been ambushed, she could have, _would have _saved him. She swallowed her rage down with difficulty. "Have you seen Kakashi?"

"Only five minutes ago. Don't worry he's got it under control." Kankuro sent her dripping opponent into the fray, attacking his own side with ruthless abandon. "Watch my back will you?"

Sakura unsheathed her katana with a snarling grin, the hiss of metal slicing through the air promising justice to her ears.

"I'd love to," she replied, taking her battle stance and daring any enemy shinobi to charge their way.

Kakashi could wait for a moment, she decided. She wasn't in any hurry.

_A/n: Oh that moment of joy when you figure out there is a line button in the __edit/preview document thingy! No more stress over trying to divide viewpoints :) _

_You got me. I have very little common sense; a flaw that is the bane of my existence. It makes driving tests REALLY hard work. _

_Review?_


	5. Chapter Five

"You're insane!" Kankuro bellowed as Sakura crashed into him and sent them both sprawling backwards onto the moist ground. A huge explosion blasted upwards a few hundred metres ahead, huge chunks of earth rocketing through the air and making the ground tremble beneath them. For a moment it drowned out the shrieking of kunais and the tearing sound of metal on flesh. Sakura groped for her katana, winded and tried to get her breath back as debris rained down around them.

"What were you thinking?" Kankuro demanded, a long scratch running across the bridge of his nose. "You almost got yourself killed! You almost got _me_ killed!"

It was almost impossible to see their surroundings as the air was filled with lingering smoke.

"I was thinking I needed a way to clear the mist," Sakura grunted, rolling to her feet. She was so tired. The gash on her shoulder had finally stopped bleeding, but her left arm was hanging at an awkward angle and she hadn't had a chance to mend the break. Blood was dribbling down the side of her face from a blow to the head she'd received minutes earlier and the world span a little as she stood upright. Kankuro was faring a little better though. She'd meant it when she said she would watch his back and between the two of them they'd managed decently until a fresh wave of the enemy appeared from nowhere between the trees. Things had gotten bad then and in desperation, the mist thickening all the time, Sakura had set a line of exploding tags along the ground and set them off.

It had been the memory of her fight with Sasori that gave her the idea, as she suddenly recalled the way she'd blasted away the billowing poisonous smoke with an explosion. Even now the mist was dissipating, enabling the two of them to see their immediate surroundings clearly for the first time since the swordsmen had appeared. Bodies lay everywhere- but around them were mostly body parts of the enemy, still softly smoking….

Kankuro staggered to his feet, looking around with narrowed eyes. "I sure hope those don't belong to anyone on our side," he said.

"You and me are the only ones over here," she replied, sheathing her katana with her right hand. Quickly and efficiently, she summoned the necessary chakra to reset her broken left arm. "We need to regroup- find out what's going on. Form a new strategy."

"This not cutting it for you anymore?"

Sakura frowned, "If we keep up fighting like this it's only a matter of time before we lose. You have to realise that. We're outnumbered."

"We have a fighting chance," Kankuro argued, eyes darting around for any approaching enemy shinobi.

"Sure," Sakura agreed absently, flexing her newly fixed arm. Apart from a little stiffness it was near perfectly done. "Where exactly did you see Kakashi earlier?"

"About half a mile to the right of here, I think. Looked to be an intense fight-"

She was off like a shot, ducking through the battlefield ahead with narrowed eyes and a shrewd ear listening keenly for the tell tale whistle of flying kunais and shuriken. All her muscles ached, her shoulder still stung painfully and she was beginning to feel strangely light headed but all these things were bearable. She had a long way to go before she hit her breaking point- and in the pocket of her green vest was a good supply of soldier pills to supplement her fading energy long before that awful moment came.

"Still alive I see?" Kakashi drawled as she staggered to a halt at his side several minutes later. He was bleeding heavily from a gash across his thigh, as though he'd scarcely managed to avoid having it hacked clean off. A few shinobi were crowded around him attempting to staunch the blood flow. Zabuzza lay in pieces several feet away dissolving into nothing, but the enemy shinobi were still around. The screams were louder here, more frequent. Two green blurs flitted around the clearing, too fast to watch. Sakura elbowed the crowd away.

"I could say the same to you, Kakashi-sensei." Immediately her hands were hovering over the wound glowing with green chakra. "You're looking a bit worse for wear though."

"I'm an old man Sakura. My reactions are a little slow these days." Beneath his mask, she could see that his face was scrunched up with pain.

"Pah!" She refused to be shaken. An injury was an injury. She was here. She was healing him. "I thought you had a plan!"

Kakashi just shook his head. "Look. The mist is clearing." It was true. Everything was becoming visible again- including the bloodbath around them. Figures she had not been able to make out before, including the sand-sibling's Maki- were sealing Haku and Zabuzza's bodies away so they could never be summoned by Edo Tensei again.

"It's a horrible technique." She said, rocking back on her heels and just about managed to suppress the hard bead of anger in her voice. The dead deserved to rest in peace.

"Yes," Kakashi agreed, testing his leg gingerly. It took his weight easily, the only sign of recent injury the blood stains on his clothes. "It's proving difficult for us as well. No one wants to be reunited with lost loved ones, only to find themselves on opposing sides of a war. Just a moment's hesitation is going to get people killed."

Sakura felt herself go pale. So many of her friends had lost people they loved….Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji had lost their sensei, Tsunade lost the love of her life, Neji lost his father-

She was distracted from her inner horror by the sudden glazed over expression of her sensei's one visible eye, as though he was seeing something that wasn't really there.

"Headquarters wants us on the move," he ground out, coming back to reality with the suddenness of a snake strike. "There's trouble ahead."

Despite her impassive expression, her spirits sunk in her chest with a terrible feeling of foreboding.

"There always is," she said.

* * *

It was overwhelming, the power of the Tsukuyomi. He couldn't control it. The moment he had pulled Yamato into the illusionary world, Sasuke had been bombarded with information from the other mans mind.

Itachi had always made it seem so easy to turn people's minds against them, subjecting their consciousness to the worst kinds of torture he could think of. But Sasuke was drowning in a lifetimes worth of someone else's memories.

Orochimaru's face loomed towards him out of the dark, eyes lit with a terrifying excitement – an ANBU kunoichi lay sprawled on the ground, her cat mask cracked in half revealing a sole staring eye and Sasuke could smell the blood that Yamato had smelt in that moment, thick and coppery in the back of his throat –

Konoha lay in ruins, the village completely levelled into mountains of debris and bodies lay broken on the ground – Kabuto stood on a wide wooden bridge, his face turned to the dark chasm below – Naruto was unconscious, his skin severely burnt, face creased with obvious pain –

And there it was; the first glimpse of the direction he wanted but despite his efforts it slid on past him in an endless stream of tangled images, like smoke slipping through his fingers

Sakura leaned over Naruto, her small, childlike hands glowing with green chakra as she said _the only things I can do for him are small and insignificant _– Kakashi leaned against the wall, his face hidden behind an orange book – And Sakura looked up at him revealing the vivid purple bruises wrapped around her throat in the shadow of a stranglehold –

_Enough!_ In some distant corner of his mind, Sasuke felt his teeth grinding together as he struggled to halt the flow of memories and direct them down a path of his own choosing. There was a whole world before him, a blank canvas for him to paint with this mans hopes and fears and dreams and memories in order to get the information he needed.

_Naruto, _Sasuke thought but the name alone summoned nothing relevant to the blonde's location.

He allowed himself, perhaps for the first time in years, to picture his old team mate in his minds eye. Blue eyes, whiskered cheeks. That obnoxious smile.

_Best friend, _Itachi's voice whispered treacherously before he could silence it. _Best friend, best friend, best friend…._

His feelings summoned up the memories that Naruto's name alone could not. He saw an island- trees and wild animals…a giant octopus looming over a small boat….the hulking figure of killerbee…..and Naruto. Naruto in a trance like state, Naruto filled with a glowing, blinding light…..

_Turtle Island. _The words drifted across Yamato's mind before the man could hold them back.

Sasuke released the Tsukuyomi with a slow, triumphant smile. The world spun for a moment as his eyes readjusted to his surroundings- at least that's what he told himself. He was reluctant to acknowledge that as far as techniques go, he was nowhere near mastering this one.

The smirk stayed on his face as Yamato's eyes rolled into the back of his head, despite his own clear memories of being stuck inside the Tsukuyomi, the way it had weaved into his consciousness and made him think what he saw was real.

_Imagine what I could do with this if I wanted to hurt someone, _he thought before he could stop himself, _imagine what I could do to drive them insane. _

He remembered the way Sakura had looked at him last time he saw her. Her green eyes had been wide and disturbed- confused. She had looked at him like he was someone she did not recognise.

Maybe he was the one who was going insane.

"Turtle Island, huh?" Sasuke said to Yamato's barely conscious form, suddenly noticing the overwhelming sadism in his voice. The darkness. He sounded just like-

He sounded just like Itachi. Or rather- like the monster Itachi had pretended to be.

* * *

"Don't be scared," Kakashi said – and Sakura threw him a look of deepest loathing.

"I'm not." It was true. She wasn't scared. If anything she was filled with a sense of grim determination, an unwavering resolve. She had never been scared of her opponents, not really. When she'd faced Sasori she had not been scared. When she'd thrown herself in the path of Gaara's sand she hadn't been scared- maybe if she'd had more time to think the fear would have set in and immobilised her, but there you go. She supposed she would never know.

"You know why you've been asked to do this."

"Yeah. Because I'm a nobody." It was ironic really. If she'd been anywhere else but on a battlefield she probably even would have laughed. It was _fucking hilarious. _

"That's not how I would have put it."

"How would you put it then?" Sakura asked, leaning back against the rocky mound they were hiding behind. She thought she might need a soldier pill or two for this. She offered one to Kakashi, hoping before she died she might actually get to see the face behind his mask. He declined.

"I would say you're the only one he can't predict. Given who we're up against, that's quite an advantage."

"Ha!" She couldn't help the sardonic snort that escaped her lips. "Alright then."

There was quiet between them for a moment. In the distance the sounds of battle raged on, but muted now, quieter. The rest of Kakashi's squadron was heading off to reinforce Darui and Gaara at the front lines. She was startled to feel Kakashi place a hand on the top of her head from where he sat beside her.

"You've come a long way, Sakura- a very long way." She suspected he was thinking of her frivolous, immature twelve year old self as he spoke. "Don't doubt your abilities or your worth. I don't. I know you can do this."

She swallowed down the sudden lump in her throat. "I'm not Naruto," she said. "I can't promise a miracle victory."

"No," he replied. "But you have me backing you up. You have your own skills and intelligence to aid you. As far as miracles go, I don't think you'll need one."

She stared at her teacher for a moment, eyes watering dangerously. "No?"

"No."

Sakura took a breath. "Okay. Let's do this."

Kakashi nodded with the utmost seriousness and together they emerged from their hiding place to slink through the trees like moving shadows. Sakura's heart beat loud inside her chest, whether from the tense silence or the building anticipation she couldn't tell. She supposed it didn't matter.

Kakashi threw out an arm in warning as they reached their destination. Sakura wondered if there was actually any chance that she would come out of this alive, then mentally berated herself for thinking about it. She'd definitely cop it if she kept asking herself questions like that.

The two of them shared a quick glance before moving into the clearing. Anko lay motionless on the ground, bruise like marks around her neck. The man beside her looked up at them without so much as a widening of the eyes to show his surprise. Instead, his face split into a smile that sent shivers of horror down her spine. The eyes behind the glasses were no longer his own. Her hand itched for the comforting feeling of her katana, a kunai- anything.

"Ah, Sakura-chan," Kabuto said softly, standing up to appraise her with merciless eyes. "How nice to see you again."

* * *

_A/n: Terrible I know; I feel like nothing has happened in this chapter. Consider it a filler- all the big stuff starts from here on out. __Yes that's right! I do have some vague plot line that I'm following here... _

_Also, apologies for my crap characterisation of Sasuke. I'm finding him very difficult to write in this chapter and it shows. _

_Review? _


	6. Chapter Six

"I must say Sakura-chan, I'm surprised they sent _you._"

The derision in Kabuto's voice made her want to spit at him, but at that particular moment she was finding it difficult to breathe around the blood rising in her throat. To her left Kakashi was just managing to keep his defensive stance in position, but he was looking distinctly worse for wear. They worked well together- she was a quick thinking strategist and he could copy almost all of her techniques to use in an offensive attack. They should have been more than a match for Kabuto.

That was the problem though. They were not simply battling Kabuto- they were also battling what was left of Orochimaru.

Sakura leaned over and spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground, her chest heaving and once again wracked her brains for a plan.

"Water," Kakashi muttered to her.

Her hands were forming the seals before she could think about it, creating a wall of water twenty feet high that curved rapidly around to trap Kabuto in a tightening spiral. Sweat beaded on her forehead; from the corner of her eye she saw Kakashi leap forwards, chidori blazing- and suddenly lightning was crackling throughout her self-created whirlpool of death. Blurry and indistinct, she could see Kabuto's waxy features set in a mask of surprise.

"_You're the only one he can't predict," _Kakashi had said to her, seemingly hours ago. She could see his logic. Sakura had no bloodline ability that could be used against her- and since the last time she had come face to face with the creep before her, she had almost completely changed her fighting style. Despite her melee of injuries- two fractured ribs, a broken collarbone, a deep gash to her upper arm- she had to grin wryly at the realisation. She had never been the wildcard before.

The crackling water exploded outwards suddenly- and Sakura summoned a wall of earth to protect Kakashi from the tidal wave the water was turning into, as Kabuto leapt across the distance towards her, chakra scalpels flickering in his hands.

_Dodge! _She ducked wildly to the right, unsheathing her katana and swinging it round to slice him in half. She missed though, unsteady as she was on her feet and instead ended up hacking off the head of the massive snake protruding from underneath his cloak. She just had time to register a scream of pain and then she was flying across the clearing to smash through the trunk of a thick, towering tree, face stinging. Shattered bark and splinters the size of her arm rained down around her as the top half of the tree crashed to the ground in a blur of green leaves.

"Sakura!" She heard Kakashi calling her name- and then he fell ominously silent. Fear, sharp and bitter on her tongue, started to crowd in on her stupefied brain.

_Get up, _she willed herself. _Come on Sakura- get up! GET UP! _

But all she could manage was to roll over onto her side and choke on her winded lungs, coppery blood running in rivulets down her chin and the bridge of her nose.

"Sakura-chan," Kabuto drawled, the strain evident in his voice even as it grew ever closer. "Did that hurt? I hope it won't leave any bruising- you've got such pretty skin I just want to slice it all right off and pin it on my wall."

The hem of his cloak appeared in her line of vision. _He's going to kill you, _a voice said in her head before Sakura could smother it. _He's going to kill you. He's going to skin you alive and then he's going to kill you. _

A hand swooped down and fisted itself in her lank, bloody hair and for a moment- just a moment- Sakura allowed herself to remember her first chunnin exam all those years ago when another person had grabbed her by her hair. She remembered how much it had hurt; how the kunai had felt gripped in her sweaty hands. When her hair had littered the moist smelling ground- was that when she had finally started her slow journey of change?

But Sakura was not twelve anymore and it was a blade of ice she had in her hands now, not a kunai. As Kabuto hauled her upright, she jabbed it backwards until she felt it slide neatly between his ribs- and then she twisted viciously.

"I see – you've learnt a few new tricks," he grunted, but his grip on her hair had slackened. She could hear the blood gargling in his throat. "That's quite impressive, but-"

He didn't finish his sentence because Sakura chose that moment to seize his wrist and fling him over her shoulder and into the ground like he was nothing more than an empty sack. Her back screamed in agony, but it was somehow extremely satisfying to see clouds of earth fly up, large cracks splintering across the ground.

"You talk too much," Sakura spat, bringing a foot down to stomp on his face- but Kabuto rolled out of her way just in time and instead of smashing his head in on itself (and what a pretty picture that made) it was the ground that split apart instead. Suddenly he was behind her, a darting shadow in the mud clouded air and she flung herself to the right, the harsh whistle of chakra scalpels ringing in her ears.

"And you don't talk nearly as much- as you used to," Kabuto's slimy voice observed. "How disappointing. You used to be such a conversationalist."

He came at her, scalpels blazing and Sakura was hard put to dodge, her mind screaming at her that she didn't know what had happened to Kakashi and she had to finish this _now. _

The scalpel skimmed her cheek and beyond the harsh sting of her split skin, she felt blood spurting down her face in a parody of all her past tears.

* * *

There was a flaw in Sasuke's brilliant plan. He knew it as soon as he turned to leave Madara's hideout, anticipation already building in his chest- and realised that although he knew exactly where Naruto was, he had no idea how to get there. Where was Turtle Island anyway? He'd never heard of it before today.

_You don't know everything there is to know, foolish little brother. You don't even know what you're doing anymore, do you? _

He found he was grinding his teeth before he'd even consciously registered the thought. Of course he knew what he was doing. And if he just had Karin with him, he'd be able to get to Turtle Island without any difficulty at all-

It suddenly struck Sasuke that he had no idea what had happened to her. Until this moment he hadn't spared a thought for her at all. Wasn't….wasn't there something a little bit wrong about that? This was a girl who had been travelling with him for weeks, a girl who had done everything in her power to help him. This was a girl who he'd tried his hardest to save in one battle and then sacrificed in another. Suigetsu and Juugo too- where were they? Why did they stop mattering?

Scowling, Sasuke turned on his heel and glared down at the man he'd left half conscious on the floor.

"Get up!" He commanded, hacking away at the bindings around Yamato's torso with a single swipe of his katana. Slowly, grudgingly he obeyed, dark eyes unfocused. "Take me to Naruto."

He knew once the blonde got wind of his chakra signature it would only be a matter of time. Naruto wanted this too; they had agreed on it. And Naruto always kept his promises.

"_You saw it didn't you? When you and I fight….we will both die." _Unbidden, the words came back to him all these weeks later. _"I will shoulder your hatred and die with you!" _

A rasping noise that may have been a cough brought him back to reality. Yamato was laughing at him.

"No."

Rage started to simmer away in Sasuke's chest, but he pressed it down for the moment. "I would rather you aided me willingly," he said and his voice was so _cold_. "But if I must I will compel this from you."

The leaf insignia on the man's forehead mocked him. It defied him. He was infuriated by the small, rebellious smirk on the older man's face. The sharingan started to whirl.

Yamato mumbled something as his mind and will was hypnotised by the red glare of the sharingan. Sasuke wasn't sure, but he thought he might have said _"Do what you want. You never deserved them." _

* * *

Her chakra was at an all time low. Sakura had lost track of everything- it could have been days that she'd been fighting Kabuto, or perversely, it could have been a couple of hours. And Kakashi lay on the ground in a bloody heap, only the faintest of chakra signatures giving any indication that he was still alive. Every time she remembered that it sent a jolt of terror through her chest.

"Have you had enough yet?" Kabuto laughed, a strange and wild excitement lighting up his features. It looked out of place on him, she thought. From the first moment she had met him, his face had always been guarded, calculating.

And now he was _toying _with her.

Sakura leapt forwards, her fist outstretched- and at the last moment swerved, dropped to the ground and swung her leg out in a sweeping kick that should have knocked him off his feet. Kabuto avoided it- just- and jumped through the air in time to meet the three kunai she had just thrown. Blood spurted outwards. As the momentum of the hit propelled him backwards Sakura jumped up and brought her knee into his back in a blow that probably cracked his spine- that would definitely slow his reactions down.

"What a troublesome little girl you are!" One moment she was in mid air, the next Sakura was flying across the clearing and crashing through branch after branch until she tumbled to the ground. The green canopy of leaves above her head obscured her vision, but she could hear him.

A kunai struck the ground exactly where her head had been a split second before.

_His chakra must be getting low, _she realised, touching down lightly on the branch of a withered looking tree. Ideas crowded in on her head in a rush. Maintaining the Edo Tensei undoubtedly took up a lot of chakra, especially on such large numbers- and now Kabuto was in a fight.

_If he's resorted to throwing weapons at me…._

Another barrage of kunai and shuriken whistled through the air towards her and though she flew out of the trajectory, she wasn't quite as fast she should have been. Kabuto appeared out of nowhere as she was suspended in mid- leap and sent her flying through the underbrush.

The next blow she dodged – and the next and the one after that until he'd forced her to make her way around the clearing in her efforts to avoid him.

"Not feeling quite so confident anymore Sakura-chan?" Kabuto asked, catching her out of the air – and then a kunai stabbed through her shoulder. Sakura had a much higher pain threshold than many of her comrades and enemies supposed, but even so she could not hold back the piercing shriek that escaped her lips. It was cold and sharp and she could feel it biting through her so the tip emerged through her back. The hot, sticky trail of blood flowing down her skin, soaking into her clothes made the bile rise in her throat. Pain, intense and overpowering screamed through her and she remembered vividly collapsing onto the ground with a sword in her stomach just under a year ago. She still had the scars.

Sakura tried to speak, but all that came out of her mouth was a spurt of blood as her knees gave way. Her insides boiled at his triumphant grin, but she couldn't seem to make her limbs obey her. Somewhere to her right, Kakashi lay face down on the ground.

"Let me tell you a secret," Kabuto said, leaning in close so that she could smell his sour breath. "Because I always liked you the best out of your team." He paused to let that sink in, mocking her with his cold smile. "I'm going to kill Sasuke-kun."

Sakura tried to spit in his face, but it came out as more of a gasp. "You're a bastard," she choked.

"Why, Sakura-chan you should be thanking me! Didn't you try it yourself? Didn't he also try to kill you?"

He was trying to hurt her, she knew. He thought he could make her cry here, at the end, by confronting her with the reality of what Sasuke had become. He wasn't the hero of her childhood anymore, he wasn't her team mate. She knew this well. When she was alone, Sakura could still feel his fingers wrapped around her throat, squeezing.

"Well either way," he said, seemingly amused by the thought, "I'm certainly doing you a favour. Don't you know why he wants to destroy Konoha? Didn't Naruto-kun and Kakashi tell you?"

His faze was ablaze with a calculating triumph- triumph at squashing her into the ground and triumph at reminding her she was right where she had started.

"You're a _liar," _she said even as she remembered Sasuke's insane, blood red eyes. His maniacal laughter.

"No," he said, placing a hand on the kunai and twisting, enjoying making her scream, "But you- you Sakura-chan, are a fool."

The end was coming, she knew it. She could practically taste her death coming and as Kabuto wrenched the bloody kunai out of her shoulder with a sadism only to be found in members of the Hidden Sound, Sakura let herself drop so she lay flat on the ground. There was a flash of metal- and then she closed her hand into a fist, pulling taut the razor wires she had set around the clearing as she dodged Kabuto's attacks. The razor wires he had been too preoccupied to see.

There was a dreadful sound of tearing flesh and she grinned, not even minding the thick splatter of blood that hit her face as Kabuto's head was sundered from his neck and spun through the air almost comically, before hitting the ground hard. It rolled for a few moments and then she heard his body collapse forwards, still clutching the kunai he had pulled from her shoulder.

* * *

For a long time everything had been eerily quiet. Sasuke followed Yamato across the harsh, unforgiving landscape around Mountain Grave until they came to the borders of Oto and Konohagakure. Looking towards both of those lands it seemed to Sasuke that an unnatural stillness had fallen over both of them. There trees and tall grasses of fire country were undisturbed by wind of wildlife. The birdsong he had grown up listening to was conspicuously absent. Sound- usually a land that held a quiet air of malice- was simply deserted.

It was as if every occupant of both countries had simply up and left- animals, insects and humans alike- and the earth itself was holding its breath.

"Stop."

Yamato obediently halted, his eyes glazed, expression blank. Sasuke surveyed him suspiciously. It certainly appeared as if the man before him was under the complete influence of the sharingan, but he knew first hand that his bloodline was not infallible. He had once broken out of the Tsukuyomi hadn't he? Sasuke knew first hand that it could be done- though perhaps, he thought with a sneer, not by this weak, pandering imbecile. No, not by anyone from Konoha. There was no way he was being led into a trap; this unnatural quiet, this sense of- of _abandonment _must be something else.

He was unwilling to recognise that in that moment he was reminded forcibly of the Uchiha district in the aftermath of _that day. _Though there was no blood splattered on the ground, no bodies sprawled across open doorways but he could feel that same oppressive loneliness pressing in on his senses- the melancholy stillness of a ghost town.

"Continue," Sasuke commanded, feeling the first stirrings of bafflement as he followed Yamato across the Sound border. He was impatient and irritated by the feeling that something was not right.

It didn't even occur to him to break the pact he and Naruto had made; he could just have easily have turned to Konoha and annihilated the village and everyone in it.

* * *

For a moment Sakura's unfocused eyes stared up at the sky in a daze and her mind fuzzed at the edges, her vision going white and grainy. But it passed- and her awareness came screaming back in several places. Her stomach was roiling with the nausea that accompanied the lightest of faints, her body ached all over like one throbbing bruise and her broken collarbone was giving her particular pain. Just beneath it, she could feel the whistle of air against the torn, ragged edges of her skin where Kabuto had stabbed her.

_Kakashi, _a voice prompted her in the farthest corners of her stupefied, overwhelmed brain. _Check Kakashi._

"Ow," Sakura hauled herself into a kneeling position and wretched uncontrollably, her hands wracked with spasms as blood and bile came spewing out of her mouth. Agonisingly slowly, she crawled on her hands and knees to where her sensei lay crumpled on the ground.

"Kakashi," she murmured, willing him to wake with every fibre of her being as she checked him for injuries.

_Muscle and spinal damage, _she realised tiredly. _Probably those damn chakra scalpels. He would have been immobilised instantly. _

She stretched out her tired hands, arms shaking with exertion and prepared to begin the long, slow healing process. Already in her mind she was picturing severed ligaments and paralysed tendons, her chakra flickering feebly in her hands as she sewed his muscles back together.

Lost as she was in the healing, it took her a lot longer than it should have done to realise something wasn't right. Sakura looked up and the chakra in her hands died as the masked figure stepped forwards, displeasure screaming from his

* * *

"This is Kumogakure," Sasuke realised, as a sudden cheer echoed all around the harsh, rocky landscape. It was a sound of triumph, of victory….the sound of thousands of people all crying out at once. What the hell was going on?

"How much further is Turtle Island from here?" He demanded and Yamato turned expressionless eyes on him.

"It's a small island off the East coast," the man told him in a slow monotone. "It's about fifty miles from the ninja alliance."

Sasuke debated further use of this uncooperative leaf shinobi who had looked at him with such open scorn. It seemed he had all the information he would need-

"Wait," he said, the words _ninja alliance_ suddenly catching up to him and taking him by uncharacteristic surprise. "What?"

* * *

"I'm so sorry, Hokage-sama," Iruka apologised profusely as she bandaged his head. He'd been woken only a few minutes ago, along with the rest of the guard. Killerbee, the host of the eight-tails was being shouted at by his brother the Raikage in a way that was most undignified for the leader of one of the Great Shinobi nations.

"You failed me Iruka," Tsunade was not at all pleased, her large amber eyes were narrowed at him in something marginally short of a glare. "In you I placed this particular trust."

Iruka bowed his head. "Naruto escaped."

"That IDIOT BOY!" It was always alarming seeing Tsunade lose her temper in the volatile outburst for which she (and now her pink haired apprentice) were rather famous for. "What does he think he's _doing?" _

Iruka stared at the floor, debating whether or not this particular piece of information would get him killed or not. But, he reminded himself, he was a proud citizen of Konoha and he was loyal to his Hokage. The consequences would have to be dealt with.

"Actually," he coughed, avoiding Tsunade's sharp eyes. "I think I know the answer to that."

* * *

Sasuke should have known it would be like this. He had barely been in Kumo for five minutes when he sensed a blazing whirl of chakra making a beeline for him. He stopped, sighed, and knocked Yamato out using the blunt handle of his katana. And then he waited for the orange monstrosity to appear. He did not have to wait for long.

"SAAAAAAASUKEEEEEEEE!"

Naruto always had to make an entrance, he thought sardonically. The dobe was so predictable sometimes.

* * *

_A/N: Jeez. Okay, yeah this is hugely rushed. I've just written the last 50% of this chapter in the space of about an hour and it'll have to do. BUT. I am actually feeling inspiration from the actual manga again for the first time in MONTHS. It's the Ino-Shika- Chou chapters. So emotional. _

_Also, I actually know who these characters are. That kind of helps :/ _

_Epic soundtrack while writing the Sakura vs Kabuto scenes. _Reptillia_ by _The Strokes _and _Suffocation Blues_ by _Black Pistol Fire. _Give them a listen, both tracks are awesome._

_Reviews would be lovely. _


	7. Chapter Seven

Sasuke was used to seeing Naruto angry. When they were genin together it had always been so easy to piss the blonde off that it was almost ridiculous. Even after he had left Konohagakure (_filthy, disgusting, traitorous village, _he reminded himself hastily) whenever the two of them ran in to each other Naruto always seemed to be pissed off with him. He'd come to expect it actually.

But it had been a long, long time he realised, staring at the blonde in front of him, since he had seen Naruto afraid.

There were a few beats of silence in the moments after he burst through the thin, straggling vegetation onto the rocky incline of road before Sasuke. The air between them had seemed to shiver with something – anticipation? excitement?

And then he had seen the wild panic crashing around in Naruto's eyes and he knew that something wasn't right.

"Naruto," he acknowledged his presence with a slow nod, choosing for the moment to ignore the feeling that something was amiss. He'd come here for the promised fight and _nothing _was going to dissuade him from that now.

"S-Sasuke you have to-" he broke off looking confused. "Captain Yamato?"

Sasuke looked down at the unconscious man lying on the ground and back to the blonde. "….."

"What did you _do _to him?" Naruto yelled, a spark of rage appearing alongside the fear. "I thought we agreed to keep this between us! How did he even get here?"

Three years ago he might have pinched the bridge of his nose to alleviate the exasperation-induced headache the blonde brought on. As it was he couldn't help but let out an expletive _"Dobe," _from between his lips. "He was captured by Madara. He's looking for you."

"I know." And suddenly the terrible fear was back. If he didn't know better he would have said Naruto had turned several shades paler. Strange. He'd never shown any sense of self-preservation before.

"They're all fighting him you bastard! Everyone! Kakashi- Sakura, the whole of rookie nine- _all our friends! _We have to stop Madara before anyone gets hurt-"

"No."

"What?"

He couldn't understand the bewilderment, the disbelief on Naruto's face. Didn't he realise? Konoha was not his home. Those people were not his friends, they never were. No matter that Madara had purposefully kept him in the dark, he refused to help those- those _traitors. _

_You're the traitor little brother. In all the lies I spun to you, when did I ever tell you to leave Konoha? When did I tell you to seek out Orochimaru? _

"You- you," Naruto looked like he was going to choke. "You're just going to stand there? You're just going to stand there while Madara DESTROYS EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS?"

What was that strange lurching sensation in the pit of his stomach? Why was he listening to this bile? They were supposed to be fighting to the death! His hand tightened on the handle of his katana.

"It was _Madara_ who destroyed you're entire clan Sasuke! It was _Madara_ who set the nine tailed fox on Konoha! It was _Madara_ who sowed mistrust between the Uchiha and Konoha- and it was _Madara_ who helped Itachi murder them!"

"SHUT UP NARUTO! Just shut up, _SHUT UP!" _Rage, hot and bitter propelled him once more, but it was different from before. When they had last met, his entire being had been filled with a strange coldness. It had radiated from the very darkest corners of his soul- his hatred. And the hatred was still there, but-

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" He shouted, suddenly so angry that his vision almost went white. "Konoha made Itachi into a villain and I believed it!" _I killed him. I killed Itachi my brother, not Itachi the villain- the murderer. I spent all those years hating him and I can never take it back. _

"He wanted you to believe it!" Naruto shouted, but it was too late. Sasuke's hand was crackling with fatal blue electricity and the air was filled with the screech of lightning.

* * *

"So it's you is it?" The figure observed and Sakura, frozen in her kneeling position, felt herself tremble. "I must admit I am surprised a weakling like you managed to eliminate Kabuto of all people."

Madara stopped to observe the bloody razor wires abandoned on the ground and then Kabuto's severed head with clinical interest. Every one of her nerves were screaming at her to _run- _to run as far and fast as she could to get away from the psychopathic Uchiha in front of her before he tore her into tiny pieces. Because he could- of that she had no doubt. This wasn't a fight where she could turn what talents she did have into a victory. If he wanted to kill her there wouldn't be a fight at all. She was no match for someone like him.

"Razor wire," he said sounding amused. "How quaint. The Leaf is still using little children's tricks in a grown up war, huh?"

He didn't seem to notice that she couldn't unstuck her tongue from the roof of her mouth to give an answer- in fact she strongly suspected that he commented purely because he liked to hear himself talk. He turned to look at her, eyes barely visibly in the shadows of his new mask and Sakura realised that she hadn't taken a breath since she had noticed him in the decimated clearing.

_Breathe Sakura, _she told herself, _you can't do anything by suffocating. I mean, you can't do anything anyway because he's a homicidal maniac who can make himself invulnerable to attack at will but who cares about that? _

It was only because she felt Kakashi stir slightly that she was able to draw in a shuddering breath at all.

_I have to get Kakashi out of here. _But how? She wasn't a miracle worker. One, or both of them was going to die.

"…don't appreciate set backs. Haruno, isn't it? And Hatake, son of the white fang. Both former team mates of my precious Sasuke-kun's." Though she couldn't see his face, Sakura could feel the cold, clinical purse of the lips, the controlled rage waiting to be unleashed. "I'm afraid you won't get to see him again, little kunoichi. By the time he flattens Uzumaki, you'll be nothing more than a bloodstain on the ground."

_Run, _she willed herself as he drew closer, the sharingan swirling in one eye. _Throw a tree at him. Throw Kabuto's head if you have to. Do _something_! _

But her body would not obey her- and Sakura knelt frozen in place as the mangekyo of the oldest Uchiha dragged her into a black, white and red world.

* * *

"Don't be- an idiot!" Naruto panted, skidding to a halt and inadvertently creating a chalky dust cloud behind him. "Just stop for a moment, will you?"

He was bleeding across the arm where Sasuke's chidori had grazed him and the satisfaction of this indirect hit cooled Sasuke's rage for a moment. He paused, hand still crackling and allowed Naruto to straighten up. His blue eyes were very earnest in that moment, wide and bottomless.

The blonde seemed encouraged when he was not immediately smote by blue lightning. "You're right that the elders made Itachi into a villain. They shouldn't have done that- they shouldn't have ordered the execution of you're family. But Sasuke- it was the elders who did that, not Konoha! If the Clan heads had known, d'you think they would have stood idly by? Why do you think it was all such a secret?"

He tried to keep a grip on his argument. "Konoha is living on the sacrifice of my clan! They deserve to die for all my pain- all the lives that were taken for them! And my family- my mother and father and- and Itachi-" he had to wince around his brother's name. "They have to be avenged!"

"You've got it all twisted!" Naruto shouted at him and it was like a slap in the face. "You're parents and Itachi do not need revenge, they need justice! But if _you _need revenge- fine. Madara is the one you want, not the villagers. And I-" he stopped short for a moment, a terrible sadness coming over his features. "He destroyed my family too."

"You don't have-" Sasuke started, a sneer already forming on his face to inform him that yes, this was yet another area in which Naruto was deficient. He was silenced mid-sentence by the fierce glare the other boy sent him. It was an expression he had felt on his own face when he was younger.

"If you still want to fight me," Naruto said, suddenly veering off topic. "I understand. I meant what I said. But I can't fight you _right now. _I have to stop Madara before he kills anyone else!"

At that, he felt the odd desire to laugh. Hadn't the idiot spent all these years trying to find him? Hadn't Naruto devoted himself to chasing Sasuke's shadow since that day he burnt a hole through his shoulder? And now, when he had come willingly – when he finally had Sasuke's full attention- he didn't want it.

"You're just scared I'm going to beat you," he taunted and somehow it felt like second nature, these provoking words, when for so long now it seemed like the only emotions he could summon up were rage and numbness.

Naruto shook his head, eyes blazing with that same determination he'd always shown, determination Sasuke recognised even now, when it felt like he was in a deep, dark pit he could not get out of and he couldn't even see the top anymore.

"The sad thing," he murmured, "is that I'm not. I'm scared of beating you_ -_and then you'll be _gone. _Forever. And all those years Sakura-chan and I chased after you- all our hope and faith in who you were….. it'll just be over, Sasuke. I mean- do you really want this to be our story?"

His blue eyes were full of such solemnity that despite himself - despite the lies and the insanity and the ever present, pulsing _thirst _for vengeance- he faltered. He thought of the old, regret tinged dreams that had started floating back, of Team 7's voices calling him home.

'_Do you really want this to be our story?' _Naruto's words hovered in the still air between them and Sasuke wondered; did he? Did he want this to be Team 7's story?

The moments drifted by and so did the prolonged silence, in which he considered Naruto's question and the blonde waited for his answer.

_I could slice him in half with Kusangi before he could even blink in surprise. I could use the mangekyo's Tsukuyomi to torture him with images that would drive him insane. I could leave now and flatten Konoha. _

But Sasuke did none of these things.

"They killed my clan." He said at last and why did it sound like pleading? Why was he so desperate for Naruto, of all people, to understand?

'_Because we're friends!' _

"I know. _I know, Sasuke. _Madara told me everything."

"So why are you still standing here like you expect me to turn around and help you? I hate them! I hate Konoha!" He was losing his temper again, he could feel himself slipping back into the madness of his grief, that dark place where he had no control. Naruto watched him for a long moment, unmoving, unflinching in the face of his anger.

"Hatred is easy," the blonde replied at last looking suddenly as sad as Sasuke had ever seen him, all the determination and warmth extinguished in the lowering of eyelids, the look he cast to the treacherous ground. "I guess I just always hoped you were better than that." He sighed and scratched the back of his head in a characteristic gesture that even now was absurdly familiar.

"I'll come back when it's over," he said finally turning to leave, a renewed urgency in the set of his shoulders, the alertness of his sky blue eyes. "Guess the end will have to wait, for now."

He took off into the trees then- and when did he get so fast?- with nothing more than half a glance backwards in farewell. Sasuke stared after him and all he could hear was Naruto's words echoing in his head in a maddening loop - and Itachi's gentle mockery.

_Are you really going to let it go down like this, little brother? After all, you are Uchiha. _

_You are our father's son._

* * *

Blood. She could smell blood.

Somehow- and she would never know how she found the strength to do this after the battles she'd already been through- Sakura managed to pull herself up and out of the grey unconsciousness that had followed being trapped in Madara's Tsukuyomi.

It felt like she had been stuck in that nightmarish illusory world for years. Her limbs were shaking. Tears had welled in her eyes and were now sliding down her face and into the ground and she could barely open them to see where all the blood was coming from. She thought she might die.

At some point during the excruciating torture, Sakura had curled in on herself and now she lay limp like a boneless fish, trying to see through unfocused eyes. All her thoughts were slow. She couldn't hear anything but white noise ringing in her ears.

_Is it over? _She wondered. _Or is this another illusion? _

She couldn't tell anymore. She tried to open her eyes wider.

There was a dark shape up ahead. Tall, a blurred figure stood over something else, something bulky…a pile of rags? But what would rags be doing here?

The tall, dark figure pulled something from their sleeve; it was metallic and glinted with the afternoon sunshine filtering into the clearing. A knife?Madara stooped, the knife gleaming in his hand like a cold smile and Sakura's brain kick started back into action-

_No! _something inside her screamed, _no! Not that! NO! _

And somehow her shaking arms were heaving her up off the ground and her trembling legs were charging across the space of their own accord and Sakura was moving faster than she had ever moved in her life, faster even than when Sasuke and Naruto were flying towards each other on the hospital roof, rasengan and chidori blazing in their hands.

As Madara brought the knife down at the corner of Kakashi's sharingan wielding eye, Sakura flew past him and slammed her hand down onto his shoulder, a black seal flaring out for a split second underneath her palm- and then Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke and the sharp edge of the blade hit nothing but the ground.

A sigh of relief escaped her and then she was slammed into the ground where her sensei had been, white crowding in at the edge of her vision. She had the idea that Madara was cursing her, was telling her all the ways in which she would die a very painful death for this but she couldn't hear him. She couldn't hear anything, but it was okay because Kakashi was saved.

The knife bit into her arm then, digging through the skin between her elbow and her wrist and Sakura was screaming but it was so odd when she couldn't hear it. All she was aware of at that moment was the wickedly sharp edge of the knife carving through her arm until it reached the bone. And then the world of the Tsukuyomi closed around her for a second time, because of course, it wasn't enough to use her as his own knife sharpening tool before he killed her- Madara was a sadist and he was going to prolong the torture for as long and in as many ways as he could.

_Bastard, _she thought with a sudden moment of fierce clarity as she once again faced the onslaught of red, white and black. _If I'm going to die, I refuse to do it stuck in this sick, twisted illusionary world! _

But it seemed he was not content to torture her with monsters of his own creation- no, Madara was going deeper, sifting through her memories for things to hurt her with; every embarrassment, every feeling that she was inadequate, all her failures, every single one of her regrets.

Madara dug deeper and deeper in the darkest recesses of her mind.

Sakura let him.

* * *

"Tsunade-sama!" a voice yelled suddenly and one of Naruto's failed guards stumbled into the room, panicked and flailing wildly. "Tsunade-sama – you – you have to come quick! It's-"

"Spit it out," she said impatiently, grabbing the shinobi by the scruff of his neck and giving him a necessary little shake. "What is it?"

"It's the Copy-nin Kakashi Hatake! He's just appeared outside-"

"What?" Both she and the Raikage shared a moment of alarm before stampeding out of the conference room, Iruka hot on their heels. Tsunade had a horrible feeling of foreboding creeping up in her chest, a moment of clairvoyance perhaps…

Kakashi lay sprawled on the ground, his mask askew and a small cut bleeding sluggishly at the corner of his transplanted eye. There was a small slug resting on his shoulder.

"Kakashi!" Tsunade yelled at the half conscious man. "Kakashi what happened?"

"Madara," he bit out and the name alone made her feel like there was a fist clenching inside her chest. She thought of her pink haired apprentice in the same space as the manic Uchiha and her knees almost gave way.

And then Kakashi stopped breathing.

* * *

_A/n: So, how is _that _for excitement? Can any of you clever readers guess what's going to happen next? __I bet you can. _

_Originality is not my strong suit. _

_Also, sorry if you thought this was going to be the epic Naruto vs Sasuke showdown. I tried to write it and it was a huge fail - this is what came out instead; both of them word vomiting at each other for PARAGRAPHS AND PARAGRAPHS. _

_I'll admit it- that knife carving into Sakura's arm was kind of brought on by re-watching part 1 of the Deathly Hallows three times in a row. Anyone else dying as they wait for part 2 to hit the cinemas? I don't know what I'm going to agonise over when the films have finished; it's bad enough the books have ended. _

_REVIEW. _


	8. Chapter Eight

He should have been used to it by now, being left behind. As a child he had spent years chasing his brother's shadow, stumbling forward in leaps and bounds to catch up with the elusive promise of better things. Even when everything had changed and nothing in the world would ever be right again, he was still chasing him. For vengeance, he had thought. To make the ghosts stop talking.

_Look how well that turned out. _

But as far as Naruto and Sakura were concerned….he realised now that it had always been he, Sasuke, who walked away. Frozen in place on the rocky incline with only the disturbed chalky ground to show Naruto had ever been there, it dawned on him that he had always taken some sort of sadistic delight in being to the blonde what Itachi had once been to him.

_Not anymore, my foolish little brother; look how the tables have turned. _

It was strangely quiet; the straggling vegetation and thin, frail looking trees were utterly still, the scurrying sounds of small animals conspicuous only by their absence. He didn't think there was a single bird to be seen or heard for miles. Yet in the distance he could just about make out the chilling and distinct sounds of war- screams and shouts and the reverberating ring of metal on metal.

He remembered running home one night and seeing the bodies of his entire family hacked down to the ground, rivulets of blood running in the streets and creeping into the open toes of his sandals. It had still been wet, warm….he remembered the first real taste of horror rising in his throat and how, until that day he had never really known what the word meant.

"_It was Madara who destroyed your entire clan, Sasuke! It was Madara who helped Itachi murder them!"_

"I know that," he muttered darkly, fisting his hands so tightly that his knuckles threatened to burst through his skin. Sasuke refused to admit though, that this was the first time he had really stopped to consider Madara's role in the deaths of everyone he loved. His first impulse had been for revenge and Konoha was the most obvious target. Except now, hearing the death screams of the men and women from his homeland (because no matter how badly it had betrayed him, Konoha would always be home) it wasn't. It wasn't that simple and it wasn't that easy.

"_Hatred is easy," _Naruto had said, _"I guess I always just hoped you were better than that." _

Remembering those words caused a moment of disquiet inside him; because it _was_ easy for him to hate. As if from a dream, he recalled a time when it had not been so- when he had found that hating one person, truly hating one person required hating everybody else and it had been so terribly hard.

He had tried to hate his classmates, his teachers- had tried most of all to hate Team 7. And when that had failed, he had tried to be indifferent.

Though Sasuke did not want to, he found he could not help but think of the people he had left behind. He thought of Kakashi, who was doubtlessly out there on the front lines and then of Sakura, frivolous, girly and innocent, probably dead by now, or dying somewhere in the dirt. He thought of Naruto's solemn expression, the light in his wide blue eyes suddenly extinguished forever and something in his chest twisted unexpectedly.

_They are all going to die today, _Itachi's voice whispered and the pain was worse somehow and Sasuke was amazed, was horrified that he was even feeling this at all. How could he live with himself if he did anything to help Konoha, the orchestrators of his clan's demise, the masterminds behind his mother's and father's murder, the catalyst of his own descent into darkness?

All around him, the air was unnaturally still and his other hand clenched the handle of his katana like it was the only real thing in the world. He could sense the violent clash of chakra somewhere in the distance, a raging thunderstorm of energy – and growing nearer to it all the time, Naruto's distinctive blaze of fiery chakra; a comet soaring across the earth, a lightning strike approaching the storm. A siren call screaming KYUUBI.

_They are all going to die today, _Itachi repeated urgently, but Sasuke knew what he really meant was: _Choose. _

"_Do you really want this to be our story?" _Naruto had asked.

Sasuke started to run.

* * *

"EVERYBODY BACK AWAY NOW!"

Tsunade had seen a great many things in her life, but she hadn't been this afraid for many years now. Crumpled on the ground, Kakashi Hatake looked like one of the most tragic hero's she had ever seen but she'd be damned if she let his life end here. As his last rattling breath echoed in the air around her, she placed a hand over his dangerously slowing heart and sent a jolt of hard, angry chakra through his chest, her other hand moving across his ribcage and knitting together his broken ribs, removing the fluid from his punctured lung.-

A frown. Though his spine had been severed by chakra scalpels, she could tell someone had started to repair the nerves and tissue not long ago…

_Sakura. _The fear turned bitter in her mouth, but she was rewarded by the sudden jolt that rocked Kakashi's body.

"_Don't you dare bloody die on me, you stupid, perverted, tardy child! _He was not a child of course, had not been a child for many years now, but she could still remember him as he was; a gangly, socially awkward fourteen year old hiding behind the darkest of masks.

She thought suddenly of Minato with his three students- of that girl Rin's kind, solemn face, forever frozen at only seventeen. Neither would forgive her if she let Kakashi die.

"Breathe damnit," she ordered him through clenched teeth, ignoring the strand of blonde hair that fell in her eyes. "I'm your Hokage!"

Around her she could hear, as though disconnected from her, the scuffles of present shinobi trying to give her space, trying to do something useful. She could hear the Raikage and Shikaku discussing something, though her ears were more preoccupied with sounding out the heartbeat of the silver haired man lying on the floor.

Tsunade wanted a great many things in that moment; she wanted sake, a hot bath, a life in which she didn't have to bear the burden of being Hokage in the middle of a war they may not win. She wanted Kakashi to open his godamn eye.

His heartbeat was skittish and uneven beneath her palm, but it was still there fluttering like a bird. Tsunade did what she did best, sewing skin and sinew and bone back together in the hope that the sum of these individual fixed pieces would be enough to save the whole.

"Breathe," she told Kakashi, the soft glow of her chakra on what was visible of his face somehow making him seem younger, a boy again. He still had so much life left to live; so much left to see and to do. He was twenty nine years old.

"Breathe."

* * *

Chaos.

That was what the battlefield was like. Sasuke passed through it too quickly for anyone on either side to register him as more than a blur, but with his sharingan of course, he could see everything. Bodies littered the ground everywhere- some whole, some in pieces. Some still dying with white, pallid faces and wide staring eyes. He could smell the blood. The screams entered his ears and stayed there, rocketing around in his skull like the reverberating sound of ringing bells. Beneath his feet the ground was moist.

Naruto was nothing more than an orange blur some way ahead of him, a darting, vibrant colour dodging the occasional kunai, a stray shuriken. He couldn't tell if the blonde knew he was following him, but he wasn't hanging about waiting for him to catch up either way. All the other boy's thoughts now, were on finding and apprehending Madara.

It would be easy, he mused. Madara needed the eight and nine tails to complete his plan. He would want Naruto to find him.

_And what will you do then, Sasuke? _Itachi questioned him but Sasuke did not yet know the answer.

* * *

"MADARA." Distantly, Naruto acknowledged, he should have ambushed the elder Uchiha with a surprise attack instead of announcing his presence. But that had never been his way. In any case, the dull rage seething beneath his skin would not let this confrontation pass by without a little opportunity to vent. These were his people, his allies. He would die to protect them! It wasn't supposed to be the other way around.

Madara turned and though his face was hidden by the new mask, it wasn't enough to prevent the glimpse of a most familiar looking eye; the rinnegan.

"Seriously," he said. "What is it with you and plucking people's eyes out? It's disgusting."

His voice was calm, even, but the fury beneath the surface was starting to fester. Had he ravaged Nagato's corpse to get that eye? What about Konan? What had happened to her?

"Uzumaki," the psychopathic shinobi greeted and he sounded- pleased. "How funny. How very, very funny." He had barely finished speaking before he started to laugh and it was a cold, hair raising sound. Naruto ignored it.

"Call your army off," he said, "I'm the one you want. Not them."

He wouldn't be able to stand it if anyone got hurt. It had been bad enough when he'd thought Pain had killed Hinata; he remembered the swift and uncontrollable destructive fury that washed through him as he stared at her pale face, the blood soaking into the ground.

He hoped that she was safe.

"No," Madara replied, playing idly with a bloody dagger in his hands. They were in a marshy clearing near a thick line of trees and clearly some kind of battle had happened here not long ago. The ground was littered with blackened body parts and there were a series of deep craters in the earth that he was horribly familiar with. Some of the trees had been torn apart with the sort of destruction that he associated with lightning. But whatever fight had taken place here, it had either ended or moved to newer ground.

"No, I don't think so. I've waited _years _to get my revenge on the shinobi world, boy. Konoha was just the start."

He looked on the masked man with new hatred, a strange pounding in his veins that threatened to obscure everything. He understood a little better now, how Sasuke must have felt about Itachi all those years- and then he felt sad remembering all that had happened between them; the lies they had both had to live with.

"You destroyed my family," he ground out and it would be so easy to slip back into that dangerous place where Kyuubi had all the control and he had none. The terrible price of his anger. "My mother and father died because of you!"

Madara paused and considered him. "Yes," he said. "I had nothing against them personally you know. Well. Maybe a little bit. They were both far too powerful in their own rights to let them live. And imagine what you would have been, if you had grown up the son of the Fourth." He shook his head. "You should be thanking me. I was the one who caused you to become the host of the nine tailed fox. And now," Naruto could sense the coldness radiating off him, the strange and amoral amusement. "Now I want it back."

* * *

It was like something out of a history book; two powerful figures facing off against each other. It surprised Sasuke because it was true. Gone was Naruto's bumbling over confidence, the childish arrogance that he had always suspected was used to cover up his insecurities. Naruto stood straight and tall as though he belonged there, between Madara and the allied forces. A hero.

He stopped in the shadows, keeping his chakra masked so that neither of them would know he was there.

"…took my parents away and destroyed your own clan! How can you claim to be all about the Uchiha and then go around murdering them?"

"The Uchiha betrayed me when they sided with the Senju. Justice had to be paid." He started to laugh, but Sasuke thought his movements were ever so slightly off. It was a somewhat automatic observation that popped up in his brain, but he paid it no attention around the sudden rage striking him like a hammer blow. Madara had killed his clan for _justice? _Justice for what? They hadn't done anything wrong!

"You've poisoned Sasuke with all your hatred," he heard Naruto say as if from a very great distance. "After everything Itachi did-"

"Sasuke was a blank canvas waiting to be painted," Madara said delicately, advancing towards the blonde now in a way that made some part of Sasuke that he thought he had long ago silenced, scream out in warning. But he did not move. "He was always destined for this; to be the great pawn in my game against the world. I'll kill him when it's over though, if it's any consolation. The three of you will be together again at last."

His voice was mocking now, but Sasuke ignored it. His heart was hammering in his chest and _how could he have been so blind? _

"Three of us?" Naruto repeated and his voice wavered for the first time since Sasuke had joined them on the outskirts of the trees. At that his attention was suddenly drawn to the blood stained dagger in Madara's hand.

"Team 7," his ancestor said softly and disappeared. He knew what would happen next. The two of them would fight and Naruto would lose and he would die and Sasuke would never get to fight him. And there was a voice screaming in his head to _do something! _and he realised with a jolt, that the voice was not Itachi's. Time seemed to slow as he activated his sharingan.

Sasuke moved faster than he had ever moved in his entire life; faster even than when he battled against his beloved older brother, until it seemed like one fluid motion in which he charged across the distance between them, unsheathing his katana as he went and swung it up to parry Madara's curved dagger, which had been aimed at Naruto's head. Behind him, he felt the blonde go completely still.

"Sasuke," he said, turning slightly. His blue eyes were wide with surprise.

"Dobe," he replied, not taking his eyes from Madara. "Shut up."

"Sasuke-kun," he could hear the surprise and the displeasure in the older man's voice. But his mismatched eyes, he could see, were staring to the right of him. That was interesting. "I'd hate to think you were having a change of heart. Could it be you don't care about Itachi after all?"

He felt his teeth grind together. "Don't even speak his name you bastard!"

There was a vindictive joy in this, he mused. Madara had thought he owned him, had written him off as a pawn to be used, manipulated. He imagined he was the only thing Madara had ever thought he'd had complete control of that ever turned around and bit him, but then he remembered Pain.

He chose not to think in terms of affiliation for the moment. Naruto was Naruto and he was Sasuke.

Madara had ruined both of their childhoods; the rest of it ceased to matter for now.

"So. You really are a traitor. Is there anyone you _are _loyal to, Sasuke?"

At that a cold smirk spread across his face. "I'm loyal to my clan," he said. "And you're not a part of it anymore."

He forced Madara backwards and Naruto turned around so they stood side by side. From twenty feet or so away, Madara cocked his head with a kind of childish curiosity as he observed them, wondering how this would go down.

This was the moment, he thought and then wondered at himself. He could feel his heart pounding inside his chest, could smell the scent of blood on the air, sharp and coppery. He could make out the tiniest and most insignificant of details in the clearing.

"He's under some kind of genjutsu," Sasuke muttered to the blonde beside him.

The blonde was astonished. "What?"

It didn't make much sense to him either. The genjutsu was a subtle thing; a little blanket of chakra- familiar somehow, but he couldn't quite get a grip on its owner- that had seemed to be distorting Madara's field of vision. Depth perception, retinal disparity….they were all off kilter. And Madara didn't realise that his sharingan had been compromised.

Naruto grinned then, but it was not a familiar one. He started to glow with that strange, white light that he had seen in Yamato's memories. "Just follow my lead, teme," he said and for the smallest of moments they were almost twelve again. But Sasuke was not that boy anymore.

Sasuke lifted his katana in an offensive position and summoned the beautiful, deadly lightning to crackle dangerously along the blade. Neither of them looked at each other. The air around them was suddenly still and the entire world fell away.

"After you, dead-last," he muttered and in a simultaneous movement they charged, perfectly poised, deadly serious in their intent.

And that, as they say, was the moment in which history was made.

* * *

"Tsunade-sama!"

"WHAT?" she bellowed, flicking her pigtails over her shoulder and glaring venomously at the source of the disturbance. The back of her throat burned; she longed for the sweet taste of sake to take the edge off her nerves.

Iruka, catching her murderous expression, swallowed audibly but ploughed bravely on. She looked up from Kakashi's slack face; only moments ago she had moved him to this makeshift bed in one of the quieter rooms. His breathing was shallow but stable.

"Naruto has been spotted on the battlefield- reports are coming in from all over saying he's confronting Madara right now!"

Tsunade swore violently. "Alert the Raikage," she commanded, longing to drift into unconsciousness like the silver haired man beside her. "And Shikaku," she added. They would need a strategy. She made to sweep dramatically out of the room, but Iruka wasn't finished.

"That's not all, Hokage," he said frantically. "The reports say he wasn't alone! He's been joined by Uchiha Sasuke-"

If Tsunade had been holding anything in her hands, she had a feeling she would have dropped it. "_WHAT?" _

"He's joined forces with Naruto!" Iruka looked beside himself. "They're both fighting Madara together!"

She stopped at that. What the hell was she supposed to do with this information? Was it a trick? Or had the Uchiha turned on his associates yet again, like the filthy turn-coat he actually was?

"Alright," she began, her voice returning to a normal volume. "Tell Shikaku to send back-up. Whatever happens, Madara must not get hold of Naruto. And-" here her voice suddenly wavered dangerously. "Get hold of Inzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Neji immediately. I need them to find my missing apprentice."

* * *

_A/n: Once again, it is word vomit. There is no way I can write a plausible fight between Naruto, Sasuke and Madara. Just no. It would be the ultimate fail. _

_Anyway, onto more important things- Naruto finally had a POV scene! Possibly the one and only because I find him very difficult to characterise realistically. And Sasuke...possilby the turning point was too easy, but hopefully you will sense that its a decision he has been hovering on the brink of facing since the first chapter. He is supposed to be a bit more rational and you know, SANE, in this story. _

_And I love writing Tsunade! Who would have supposed? She and Kankuro seem to take over my words whenever they appear :) _

_As for Sakura...I guess you'll have to wait and see what her fate will be. _

_Review?_


	9. Chapter Nine

There was one shivering moment of silence – and then all hell broke loose. The moment Madara's body hit the ground, cheers erupted for miles around as thousands of people rejoiced that the nightmare was finally over. Distantly, as he and Naruto sagged into each other, it had dawned on Sasuke that people were crying- crying and embracing and throwing down their bloody weapons.

_It's finished, _he thought dazedly. _It's over. I'm the only one left. _

"YEAH!" Naruto's joy was irrepressible and it distracted him. Pumping a fist in the air, the blonde had a smile brighter and wider than any Sasuke had ever seen. "We did it! Teme!"

But even as Naruto looked ready to explode with their victory and the people nearest them started to run towards the clearing from all directions, their arms outstretched, Sasuke felt himself begin to retreat.

He didn't belong here.

He took a step backwards – and stumbled. Naruto's blue eyes were on him immediately. Both of them were looking worse for wear; the blonde's front was soaked with blood and it looked like one of his wrists was broken, but he was beaming. Or at least, he was beaming until he caught sight of Sasuke and then something in his eyes seemed to dim.

In that moment as they stared at each other, it seemed as if they were the only two people in the whole world and yet the distance that he himself had put between them for the past three years sprung up as though it had never closed.

"You're going to leave again, aren't you?"

He was so tired. His unkempt and lank feeling hair was getting in his face and there was a sick dizziness swimming in chest. He had a feeling that the only thing keeping him on his feet was pride.

"I can't go back," he told Naruto, backing away slowly. "I can't."

"You can! Sasuke, Konoha is your home."

_Maybe it was once, _Sasuke admitted to himself, recalling blue skies, hot sunshine and the way the light would filter down between green leaves. _But not anymore. _

"Itachi wanted you to come back," Naruto said as if he could hear what Sasuke was thinking.

"It's because of Konoha that he's _dead._" What would he do now, though? Maybe, if the gods permitted it, he would be allowed to live out the rest of his life somewhere far away, under an open sky and keep the dead company.

_Aren't you tired of being alone? _

"No one knows the truth yet. About Itachi and your clan, I mean. No one except us, Kakashi-sensei and Yamato. Don't you think they should?"

His head was throbbing; his chakra was exhausted. He just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again.

"So tell them!" Sasuke snapped, but his heart wasn't really in it. He was too tired in every possible way to bother with animosity. There was no point anyway; no matter how many walls he put up, no matter how much he tried to convince himself and the world that he didn't give a damn, Naruto always came back in the end.

"I'll tell my part of it," Naruto said, solemn again. He made no move to follow him, but stayed where he was, unaware of the blood smeared across his left cheek. "My parents deserve that. But it was your family that was massacred, Sasuke. Itachi was your brother, not mine. Don't you want to be the one…?"

"The one to _what?" _

"You said you wanted to purify the Uchiha clan," he said quietly and both of them remembered that strange day when Sasuke had declared war on the world. On Konoha. "But attacking Konoha isn't the way, you can see that right? Forget revenge, because it'll only do to others what was done to you."

But it wasn't that easy, was it? Sasuke had spent most of his life trying to hate someone with every fibre of his being; for every decision he had made, revenge had always been the path that he had chosen. He didn't know any other way.

_Yes, you do. You chose to turn on Madara. You chose to save Naruto. _They were getting closer now, the victorious crowds and if Sasuke wanted to leave, he had to do it soon. Very soon. _You are not an evil person, Sasuke. _

"Come home," Naruto urged him, slowly stretching a battered arm towards him; his palm was open. Waiting. "You don't have to destroy the world to do them right, teme. You can change it."

Sasuke thought of his clan, of the metallic smell of blood rising to meet him on a still, silent night. He thought of Itachi lying on the ground with empty thought of all the lonely places in the world that he did not want to go and looked down at Naruto's outstretched hand.

He didn't take it, but as the ecstatic crowd of shinobi reached them, he didn't walk away either.

* * *

Tsunade was _pissed. _Madara was dead as a dormouse and she just wanted to be happy, damnit!

She wanted to throw her hands up in the air, order Shizune to run her a hot bath with the good kind of bubble bath and drink her way through about ten bottles of sake. But _no! _

That was not going to be possible now – not with reports streaming in about bloody Uchiha Sasuke turning up and joining the fight. Did the boy not realise he was considered an internationally wanted criminal? That the Raikage was now demanding his trial and execution for his crimes against his country? And soon enough all the other Kages would start chiming in with their two pennies worth!

The last thing Konoha needed was to spark off hostile foreign relations the very second the Fourth Ninja War had ended.

_I bloody hate that boy, _she thought, feeling her mouth working itself into something of a snarl. Her foot was tapping impatiently against the hardwood floor and the back of her throat burned. She really wanted a drink.

"Sasuke Uchiha was a citizen of Konohagakure," she told the Raikage, trying to keep a grip on her volatile temper, even as he gave in to his. "And as such, he answers first and foremost to me for his crimes. Traitor or not, I am still his Hokage."

A glared ferociously down at her. Despite his massive stature, Tsunade was not cowed by the force of his anger. Then again, it helped that she knew she could snap him in half with a single kick if she wanted to. Besides, he knew it was true; any missing-nin had to answer first and foremost to the village they had belonged and that was after being dragged back kicking and screaming. . .

Only ten minutes ago, news had come pouring in from every squadron that it was over. Uchiha Madara had been defeated by Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke. And the traitor had _stayed. _As of this moment, they were both on their way, the young Kazekage too. Gaara.

_All these bloody kids, _she grumbled. She was getting too old to be dealing with things like this.

'Things like this' ranged from anything involving the massive amount of paperwork this issue would entail, to the complicated diplomatic relations it would probably damage, to Naruto, who she knew with absolute certainty, would not give her a moments peace until his friend's fate had been decided.

And there was so much still left to do; the wounded and the dead needed to be collected and tended to and named, not to mention organising how to get them home. Relatives needed to be informed, the feudal lords guard's needed to be relieved of their duty, the civilians needed to be brought home from their evacuation site.

_I'm going to kill that Uchiha! _she thought grimly, imagining all the ways she could do this. A woman had to do something constructive do prevent the approaching migraine after all.

There was still no sign of Sakura.

It was something she tried to force out of her mind as two sets of approaching footsteps met her ears. She could practically see Naruto's boisterous smile.

"Perhaps it would be wise for you to leave," she told the Raikage, ignoring the developing throb behind her temples.

He snorted, nostrils flaring dangerously. "I'm not going anywhere, Tsunade," he growled. "But I won't interfere. Not yet anyway."

Great. The prospect of Kumo's vendetta against the boy would be something to deal with further down the line. Another thing to look forward too then.

At that moment, Iruka popped his head in the doorway looking flustered. In his eyes she could see his overwhelming pride for the blonde haired boy he considered a younger brother warring with his distrust of his other old academy student. It was a distrust, she thought, that he was trying his best to hide until he could overcome it, even if it was only for Naruto's sake.

"What is it?" she snapped, her impending headache making her short tempered. Still, it was always somehow satisfying to see the way she could make grown men gulp with a single look.

"Naruto and- and Sasuke Uchiha have arrived in the building," he told her, with a nervous look at the Raikage. "What shall I do, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples. "Send them in," she commanded. She could already tell this was going to be the longest part of an already long day.

* * *

"I've got her scent!" Kiba yelled suddenly, his head whipping around to Neji's right. Personally, all he could smell was blood and wet dog, but he was wise enough not to say this. Anxiety made him somewhat waspish.

"Where?"

"That way!" Kiba yelled – and they were off, putting as much speed into it as they could after hours of strenuous fighting. They seemed to crash through Kumo's straggling vegetation for a long time before they reached the line of thin, bare looking trees. Nejji, sensing they were getting closer, activated his Byakugan in the hopes of pinpointing their pink haired friend a little quicker.

"I'm picking up other scents too," Kiba announced, a worried look coming over his face. They passed a toppled tree, smashed in half by _something _and exchanged a look. "It's bad Hyuuga."

The signs of destruction got rapidly worse until they found themselves suddenly out in the open again.

Three bodies greeted them; one he recognised as the second procter of his first chunnin exam- Anko. The second was what was left of Kabuto Yakushi; his severed head lay feet away from his body surrounded by limp, bloody razor wire lying innocently on the ground.

The third was undoubtedly Sakura. She wasn't moving.

* * *

Naruto shifted his weight onto his other foot and felt himself cower in the face of Tsunade's rage. It was, he thought, kind of ridiculous that he could face any number of bad guys without flinching – and yet the sight of an angry female made him squirm until he could take the first opportunity to run away. It was always like that. Sakura was the worst though; she actually _hit _him. Repeatedly.

"….EVER DO ANYTHING THAT STUPID AGAIN I WILL MAKE YOU STAY A GENIN FOREVER, CONFINE YOU TO THE VILLAGE AND BAN ALL RAMEN!"

"What?" He forgot his fear for a heroic moment of pure outrage. "You can't ban ramen! That's – that's _sacrilege!_"

He found himself quailing again as his Hokage gave him a very nasty smile. Then her attention shifted to the melancholy, dark haired boy beside him.

"And what about you, Uchiha?" she demanded. "What do you have to say for yourself after three years? Hmmm?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment. Naruto wondered if he was already having second thoughts about coming back, if he already had a plan in mind to make his escape. He wondered how Sakura would feel knowing they'd finally got him back for an hour, only for him to slither away again.

"I aided Naruto in destroying Uchiha Madara," he said at last, taciturn as always. Where was Sakura anyway? Surely she'd heard Sasuke was here?

"I know that!" Tsunade snapped, her resemblance to a sabre-toothed tiger increasing with every word that came out of their mouths. "What I want to know is _why."_

Seeing the mulish line of his best friends mouth, Naruto interjected hastily on his behalf, "Because Sasuke is a good person! Me and Sakura-chan can both vouch for him, Tsunade baa-chan- oh and Kakashi-sensei too-"

Tsunade silenced him with a single look. "Maybe they would," she said in a voice of deceptive calm. "But that is not the issue here."

It might have been his imagination, but he rather thought Sasuke fidgeted slightly. "Madara helped murder my clan," he muttered and Naruto turned to look at him. He was very white in the face and the knuckles of his hand looked like they were about to burst out of his skin. The Raikage snorted rather violently, startling him; Naruto had completely forgotten he was there.

"A likely story," he growled. "If that's the case then why did you join him and his organisation?"

There was a pause as he and Sasuke glanced at each other and then Naruto stared at his feet. No one, apart from Team 7, knew that Sasuke had harboured a grudge against Konoha. They had barely been able to speak of it to each other, let alone anyone else. Before they'd really had any time to wrap their heads around the concept, or investigate Madara's claims about the Uchiha massacre, the council had sent him off on a bogus mission. He was still mad about that, actually.

They were going to have to tell them the whole truth and hope for the best. "Eh, Tsunade baa-chan…this is kind of a long story."

"Then get a move on!" She snapped, amber eyes narrowed dangerously. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he rather thought she was in a more volatile mood than usual.

"Right," he said nervously, rubbing the back of his head, "Um. Well remember when you were in a coma?"

There was a tense silence in which his Hokage glared at him. Moving on hastily, he added. "Of course you do- um, well… Kakashi, Yamato and I went to the Land of Iron to try and persuade the Raikage here to forgive Sasuke-"

"_That's _what you were doing there?" Sasuke interrupted, looking annoyed. The Raikage glowered, clearly remembering that day and the Kage Summit afterwards.

"Yeah," Naruto laughed self-consciously, aware that all attention was on him. "It didn't work and then you went and messed up even more-"

"Naruto!"

"Right, right," he backtracked hastily, aware of Tsunade's shortening fuse. "Well- long story short, we were, um, kind of paid a visit by Madara. And then Sakura-chan came along later and- and…"

_We didn't tell her, _Naruto thought. _I can't believe we didn't tell her. _

"You were paid a visit by _Madara? _Why?"

"To talk about Sasuke actually. And Itachi." He stopped here and glanced at his sullen best friend. He doubted anyone else could tell, because they didn't know him well enough, but Sasuke was definitely in need of medical attention. It was apparent in the tiniest of creases between his eyebrows, the tense line of his mouth. "You should tell them," he said, "He told me pretty much what he told you, y'know. After…" _After you murdered your brother. _

There was a moment in which Sasuke glared at the floor, clearly battling against himself. Naruto had never seen him this indecisive before; normally he knew what he wanted and charged after it relentlessly. He was single-minded and selfish in his goals.

"….."He had just opened his mouth to begin, when someone outside screamed. Naruto jumped out of his skin and nearly tripped on his own foot, but Tsunade's head whipped towards the closed door- and the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Someone was running in their direction.

"What-" they heard someone say- a guard probably. "You can't go in there right now-"

The door was savagely kicked open with a bang that people could probably hear from Suna.

"Hokage-sama!"

For the smallest of moments, as everyone in the room gathered their startled wits, all Naruto saw was Neji in his flack green jacket, looking battered and bruised but otherwise relatively unharmed. He felt Sasuke stiffen beside him.

"What-"

"Put her on the table! NOW!"

And then he saw what everyone else had seen. Someone was cradled in Neji's arms- someone small and limp, who was obviously dying. Someone who was horribly and terrifyingly familiar.

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura, virtually unrecognisable under all the blood, was lowered gently to the table that Kages had been sitting around and as Tsunade immediately stretched out glowing hands that illuminated her frantic expression, Naruto felt the floor go out from under him as all the world turned to white.

* * *

It was natural somehow, to reach out and stop Naruto from crashing face first into the floor. The blonde swayed heavily, all the colour gone from his face, as Sasuke grabbed him by the back of his obscene orange and black jacket.

"Pull yourself together Naruto," and suddenly Neji was there, helping to support the blonde boy with a steady arm. Sasuke could smell the blood on him, sharp and coppery and fresh.

Sakura's blood.

"Put him on the floor," Neji ordered and Sasuke was forcibly reminded how much he had disliked the older boy. He couldn't help but glance back at the table where Sakura lay as he and the Hyuuga propped Naruto against the nearest wall, so that his head could rest between his knees. In the chaos of her appearance, Tsunade had completely forgotten them.

"Sakura," the blonde Hokage was muttering feverishly, bent over the unconscious girl. "Sakura, if you die I will _kill _you…."

The pink haired girl looked very young and very small and for some reason the sight of her lying there like that made him feel…sick. Even from the other side of the room he could see that someone had stabbed her right through the shoulder; her black top was torn where the weapon had gone in. And her face- it was covered in blood; it spilled from her mouth, from her nose, from a prominent gash just under her hairline so that it had dried down the side of her face and crusted into her hair. Her clothes were ripped and stained. From what he could see of her forearm, it looked like someone had hacked it to ribbons.

"Uchiha."

Sasuke dragged his eyes away from the girl sprawled on the table top, suddenly aware of the terrible pounding in his chest, the nausea in his throat.

"What happened?" he found himself asking, in a voice that seemed to be detached from him somehow.

"Madara," Naruto moaned quietly and Neji crouched down beside him to place a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke's insides burned.

"It was Madara," the blonde continued, sounding close to tears. "That knife- and when- when he said…it must have been right before I found him! He was –laughing-"

Sasuke too, suddenly remembered the silver, blood stained dagger with a horrible jolt somewhere in his chest. Naruto was starting to hyperventilate.

"Naruto, breathe." Neji ordered, "Sakura's lost a lot of blood- but she'll pull through."

Sasuke wasn't so sure and apparently neither was the blonde. He staggered to his feet and started towards the table where Tsunade was desperately trying to keep Sakura alive, his movements unsteady.

"Sakura!" Naruto was crying now, genuinely crying and it should have been a disgusting display of weakness, but all it did was make him want to cover his ears to stop the sound from tearing through him. He watched as Naruto grabbed one of her hands, sobbing – and suddenly the Hokage seemed to remember their existence. Her eyes were narrowed with concentration and he could see Sakura's blood on her hands.

"Neji!" she barked, "Get them out of here, now!"

Immediately the Hyuuga was hauling the blonde away from the table and towing him towards the doors he had kicked in only minutes ago. Naruto struggled, wailing, but was successfully banished to the corridor beyond.

"And you!" Tsunade's voice said- and someone grabbed Sasuke by the scruff of his neck. He was shoved none too gently out of the room and turned on numb legs to see the Raikage slam the doors shut behind them, his expression furious.

"HEY!" Someone shouted, "What the hell is that bastard doing here?"

"Shut it Kiba! Naruto shouted, rounding on the Inzuka with a tear-streaked face and Sasuke realised the boy who he vaguely remembered always smelled of dog, was talking about him.

"Did you deliver the bodies?" Neji asked him and Kiba scowled.

"Yeah. I uh- take it they know?"

A heavy silence hung between the four of them while Naruto shook, Sasuke stared and the other two avoided looking at them. No one knew what to say.

"I guess," Kiba said quietly, "we'll just have to wait."

* * *

At some point while Tsunade was healing her, Sakura regained just enough consciousness to feel the agony of her injuries. All the Hokage could do was order A to hold her down to stop her violent thrashing, while she continued methodically fixing the dreadful damage that had been inflicted on her apprentice.

She knew Sakura had a high pain threshold. It made the sound of her screaming and crying that much harder to bear.

* * *

_A/n: Wow. I don't think I've ever updated this fast before. Call me lame but I had trouble sleeping while this was incomplete and I couldn't concentrate on my work either :( _

_Anyway. Neji to the rescue anyone? Also, Sasuke's and Sakura's first scene together (granted, she was unconscious but that's not the point)! Various loose ends will be tied up at some point in later chapters, ie, the genjutsu on Madara... Poor Sasuke; I have a feeling he's going to be taken by quite a big heft of surprise when he finds out what Sakura is actually capable of. That is, if he sticks around for long enough ;)_

_And now two questions: _

_1. Twilight or The Mortal Instruments? Choose wisely (if you pick Twilight I will never speak to you again. Just a hint)._

_2. Who is your favourite Naruto character? Minor and major, if you please. _

_I'll admit it now; I suffer from incurable nosiness. _


	10. Chapter Ten

"N-Naruto?"

The sound of his name startled him. He realised that hours had passed in which he had sat on the cold, hard windowsill while harassed looking medics carted the injured past him. Though the sky had darkened considerably and the moon was out, the base of the Shinobi Alliance was far from quiet. He could hear the cries of those in terrible pain outside.

Everything was a mess.

Warm hands on his shoulders made Naruto look up with tired eyes. A pale face hovered above his in the semi-darkness. Recognition was slow to come.

"Hinata?"

She was bruised and bloody to be sure, but unharmed and Naruto fervently thanked his lucky stars for this small mercy; that Hinata, who was probably the kindest, bravest, most beautiful girl he knew, was not lying in a small bed with her arm hooked up to an IV and looking for all the world as though she had nearly died. In his overwhelming relief, he flung his arms around her.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly, regarding him with anxious lilac eyes. "Kiba said you weren't doing so well."

That was true, he supposed. This should have been the best day of his life; he'd stopped the Akatsuki, ended a war and _finally _got his best friend back – but it was all going wrong. Kakashi was unconscious. Sakura had fallen into a coma.

Sasuke had been taken away.

The moment she had seen that her apprentice was settled into an available bed just down the hall, Tsunade had dragged his best friend off to be interrogated by Konoha's finest – and Naruto had been forcibly restrained from following.

"STAY HERE." Tsunade had yelled at him. "You're undoubtedly a hero Uzumaki, but I am still your Hokage and you have no business in this interrogation room tonight!"

That had been four hours ago now.

Still clinging to Hinata, he buried his face in her shoulder and concentrated only on the fact that she was here and alive and not fainting for once. Instead, she wound her arms around his back and hugged him closely.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he murmured, thinking of Sakura and her pinched, white face. "I was worried something awful had happened to you…that- that someone had-"

He couldn't finish the sentence, so horrible was the thought.

"I was worried about you too," she admitted shyly. Even in the dark he could make out the faintest of blushes across her cheeks, but she wasn't stuttering anymore. There was something different about her since Pein's attack on the village; it was as though she had stopped doubting herself and found a hold on the strength, the steely determination that had always been hidden under her gentle personality.

"Is it true that Sasuke has come back?"

"Yeah. At least- I think so."

She smiled for him. "He was always going to come back, I think," she said quietly. "Lady Tsunade knows it too. I think it will be okay, Naruto."

He glanced across the hall to the thin door that Sakura lay behind, comatose and ghostly pale. Every time he tried to enter the room, something stopped him. He couldn't seem to turn the handle and take that first step towards her bedside.

Hinata pulled back and took a seat beside him on the cold window sill and Naruto thought she looked tired. They were all tired; under the bright moon it was one of those endless, sleepless nights.

"But- how do you know?" he asked. For some reason he couldn't seem to find his usual optimism, the determination to make things turn out in his favour in the face of adversity. Everything had gone wrong, he decided, in that moment when he'd seen Sakura dying in Neji's arms.

Her fingertips grazed his and it sent helpless little flutterings up his arm and through his chest. He could feel a blush of his own warming his skin.

"Because-" Hinata hesitated for a moment, "You inspire people to change, Naruto. You bring out the best in them. I think… I think you bring out the best in himtoo."

By 'him' he knew she meant Sasuke.

"I don't know," he admitted in a whisper. "I don't think Sasuke's ever listened to me, Hinata. Three weeks ago he tried to- three weeks ago he would have killed us all. He almost did kill Sakura-chan. And now….now I don't know why he changed his mind, but I know it's got nothing to do with me."

"Oh," she said.

"What?" Naruto turned away from the moon lit sky and squinted at her curiously. Something he had said had made her suddenly sad. "What is it?"

"N-nothing," she replied, "It's just- you haven't really seen Sakura since you were…" she trailed away, flushing.

"Since I was sent on a bogus mission."

"Yeah. Umm, I didn't know-"

He sighed and cupped his chin in his hand. "It's okay."

She smiled at him then and Naruto found himself smiling tentatively back, the warmth in his cheeks growing by the minute. In a way, he thought absently, Hinata had been a lot easier to deal with when he didn't understand her reactions to him; now that he knew- now that he knew she _loved _him, he found himself acting in a strangely similar way. He just couldn't help it.

"Anyway," she continued, sounding suddenly very flustered. "I was just thinking that…for a while now, Sakura has not been acting like herself. I- I was worried, Naruto. I didn't understand why, but now…something bad happened when you saw Sasuke that time, didn't it?"

He could still see it in his mind's eye; the brutal force of Sasuke's fingers pressing into Sakura's throat, the gleam of a kunai whipping through the air, the way she had trembled ever so slightly in his arms. Looking back on it, Naruto thought it was her eyes that bothered him most; that in that single moment when she had looked back at Sasuke over his shoulder there had been inside those green irises, a deep and bottomless loss.

"Yeah," he said, wishing he had not been sent away so soon after that disaster. "It did."

Hinata said nothing, but placed her hand gently over his in a gesture that expressed so much tenderness he felt like his face was on fire. It was only for a moment, but as she pulled her hand away, Naruto reached out and curled his pinky finger around hers.

They stayed like that, with their littlest fingers intertwined, for the rest of the night.

* * *

"…."

Given that he'd deserted Konoha pretty much as soon as she became Hokage it wasn't surprising that Sasuke knew nothing about Tsunade other than that she was a medic and appeared to have a somewhat volatile temper. But he was quickly learning.

As he had recounted his story (somewhat reluctantly, it was true), he had come to learn that the current Hokage was also condescending, vindictive and somewhat rude. Or maybe she just really didn't like him.

Sasuke wasn't sure how he had expected her to react to the truth about the Uchiha massacre; to call him a liar, he supposed, or to claim the elders had been perfectly justified in their decision.

"…I need a drink," she eventually responded, looking suddenly ragged. "Shikaku- there's a bottle of sake stashed in the bottom left drawer of the filing cabinet in the conference room. Don't let Naruto see you either."

The shinobi who had spent the entirety of the interrogation leaning against the wall by the door, quietly let himself out.

"Bloody Danzou," the blonde woman cursed, sitting with her head in her hands. "Bloody village elders. Bloody, bloody Minato for dying and causing Sarutobi-sensei to let this mess happen!"

She pounded on the desk between them and Sasuke was astonished to see it split in half as though she'd hit it with a sledge hammer. As if sensing his minute change in facial expression, the Hokage looked up and glared straight at him.

"I hate you," she told him. "Just so you know. Not because you're a Uchiha, but because you don't use your brain, you stupid boy. What were you thinking, letting Madara manipulate you like that? Idiot!"

Sasuke just stared at her as the door opened behind them and Shikaku handed Tsunade a bottle. Immediately she took a long swig from it and he couldn't help but feel somewhat miffed that she couldn't even be bothered to keep up the pretence of a semi-respectable Kage in front of him.

He didn't appreciate being called an idiot either; something about her tone and the words seriously rankled. _No one _called him an idiot.

Before he could get properly angry though, Tsunade finished what was left of the sake and threw the bottle against the floor.

"I guess the question is, what to do with you? Any suggestions Shikaku? No- don't answer right now, just have a quiet think while I get this sorted." She glared at Sasuke a little more.

"This had better be everything," she warned him, amber eyes narrowed dangerously.

Sasuke kept his expression blank. "It is."

"Alright. I've little doubt you're telling me the truth about Itachi and the elders, but Danzou is dead. You already turned on Madara. So what do you want, Uchiha Sasuke?"

Though he hated to admit it, her question startled him precisely because he had no idea how to answer anymore. In making the choice to save Naruto, it seemed he had also made the choice to abandon his plans to destroy his home.

"I don't know."

Did he want to go back to Konoha? Could he go back and take back his old life like nothing had changed? Just stroll along and rejoin their ninja ranks like he had never left?

"Well that's very helpful," Tsunade snapped at him. "I could do with a bit more than an _'I don't know' _when I've got the Raikage breathing down my neck to have you executed for your activities as an Akatsuki member! If you want to return to Konoha –and by god you had better mean it if you do- then I can find a way to save your stupid skin. Probably. There will be consequences of course, but if you chose to leave then I can safely promise you will probably be dead within a year. You've made a lot of enemies during your three years abroad- I bet you don't even know how far your reputation has spread, do you?"

When he said nothing, she continued. "I can't promise you life will be perfect. It won't. You've hurt a lot of people and angered many others. But if you want justice for your clan, as you said…well. I can give you that at least."

"Is that a promise?" He stared at her intently, looking for any signs of deception, any hint of a lie in her weary face. To her credit, she gazed back unflinchingly and there was only hardened resolve in her eyes.

"A promise conditional to your return."

He had not forgotten what Konoha had done to Itachi, or to his clan. He had the feeling he would never be able to forgive it either, but his family _was _owed their justice. And he owed to them to see it through, even if it meant spending the rest of his life in the place that had destroyed everything he had ever known. The clan came first, always. In the absence of any other purpose, this was the truth he clung to. He would deal with anything else that his return would entail, as it came.

"Is that a deal?" Tsunade asked, eyeing him beadily.

Sasuke made his decision.

"Yes."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and fixed him with a piercing look – one that was a mix of both intense dislike and reluctant sympathy. He did not understand it at all.

"You'd better not hurt them again, Uchiha," she said slowly and clearly, so that he could perfectly hear every word. Something lurched in his stomach. "I'm tired of picking up the broken pieces you leave behind you."

He thought of Naruto's anxious look as Iruka-sensei held him back, the sudden fear in his blue eyes and of Sakura's screams reverberating through the heavy wooden doors that hid her from view. He wasn't sure when it happened, but at some point between their last meeting and the moment when he turned on Madara, the proof of their pain had ceased to please him.

"Sakura will be alright," he replied monotonously, as if stating this as a fact could hide the fact that he was even acknowledging her critical condition.

"Madara tried very hard to kill her," the Hokage said. "And you know better than everyone else just what he was capable of. I would be very surprised if she comes out of this 'alright'."

* * *

Blink. Starbursts of light filtering through her eyelashes like lightning bolts. Nothing was discernable; everything was a strange, white blur.

It felt better in the dark.

She blinked again, eyelids fluttering open without her permission. It was the scent on the air that caught her; dust and alcohol and blood. A stale combination.

Blink. Slowly the light took shape and made some sort of sense again. Her arm was on fire.

_Sakura, _someone was calling. _Sakura you're okay – you're okay, stop doing that! Leave your arm alone- _

Someone's hand was on her wrist, fingers pressing into her skin and she flailed wildly. Thoughts were scattered and incoherent inside her head and she didn't know where she was. The person leaning over her with the mismatched eyes was unrecognisable. Her lungs burned and she had to put the fire out.

She could hear a strange, desperate wailing sound somewhere close. It was reverberated through her so intensely that she was shaking.

"Sakura."

Who was Sakura? She lashed out at the silver haired man who had been sat by her bed, but he caught both her wrists easily and held them in his gloved hands. Why wasn't the fire burning him?

"Sakura."

The wailing sound was coming from her. She became aware of the heart pounding painfully in her chest and the strain in her ribs. Something scraped in her throat when she swallowed.

With awareness came reason, filtering slowly through the hysteria clouding her mind. Sakura stopped struggling.

"Do you know who I am?" Kakashi asked, looking down at her with concern in his eyes. One of his orange books lay spine up on the floor where he had dropped it. There was an orange jacket hanging over the back of the chair.

"…K-Kakashi…"

Though she could feel her mouth moving, she didn't sound like herself. Her voice was so far away, like it was coming from somewhere else entirely. The light hurt her eyes.

Her arm wasn't on fire anymore, but it was still burning. In her terror she had raked through the thick bandaging and reopened the gashes on her forearm. Her blood was slowly soaking the bed sheets.

"Look what you've done," her teacher scolded softly, letting go of her wrists. Sakura was not hallucinating and incoherent anymore, but she was still dazed. There was a big, black empty space in her head where time had disappeared. Why was she crying?

"You're okay now, Sakura," Kakashi said, "You're safe. Madara is dead."

_Madara. _

The name sent such a spasm of terror through her that her vision went white for a moment – white and grainy. Sickening images rushed up before her eyes, nightmarish things that he had created and unleashed on her within the confines of her mind.

"...he killed me," she choked.

She thought she saw him frown and realised belatedly that his forehead protector was not covering his sharingan.

"No. You're alive. You've been in a coma for three days, but you're alive." He paused and then ruffled her pink hair. "You saved me, Sakura."

Yes. The memory was there, somewhere between two eternities stuck in a nightmarish world; her frantic dash across the clearing, the descent of a gleaming silver dagger. It felt like a dream.

She didn't understand anything.

"The war is over," he started to speak again, after she slumped down into her pillows. She didn't recognise this room. "We're all going home soon- the first wave is heading out today with Tsunade-sama."

"Oh."

"Shizune and I have been left in charge of organising Konoha's remaining troops and the injured, in her stead."

Even in her state, Sakura did not fail in her duty to give him a baleful look. Kakashi hastened to scoop up his book of debauchery and hide behind it.

"Slacking off again," she muttered, clumsily summoning chakra to her fingertips so she could repair the damage she had done to her already shredded skin.

"You wound me with your unfounded assumptions, Sakura-chan," he said. "As it happens I am under very strict instructions to watch over you until a certain knucklehead comes back from his search for ramen."

At that Sakura bolted upright and was rewarded by the screaming agony in her ribcage. "_Naruto's here?" _

"Why do you always assume the knucklehead is me?" Someone demanded from the doorway.

Wide eyed, she looked at Naruto's anxious face and felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach. It was the first time she had seen him in weeks; his blonde hair was sleep mussed and there were bruise like shadows under his eyes. His smile, when he looked at her, was tremulous.

"You look terrible," she croaked.

Naruto strode into the room with measured steps. Hesitant, she would have said, if she didn't know better.

"It's cos there's no damn ramen in this place! I've- I've looked everywhere Sakura-chan and not a single pot! I'm dying here!"

The moment the word 'dying' left his lips, Naruto clapped a hand over his mouth. Kakashi eyed him beadily over the cover of his book, but said nothing. Sakura thought she understood how he was feeling; too many times she'd had to visit her reckless team mates while they were confined to hospital beds, choking down the panic with a well practised smile. Naruto had never had to do that, she supposed. He never handled role reversal particularly well.

"I'm guessing I have you to thank for our victory," she interjected hastily, in a vain attempt to bring some of the colour back into his face. "Naruto to the rescue, as always?"

It didn't work. Instead he sank into an empty chair on the other side of her bed and buried his face in his hands, shoulders trembling.

"Sakura-chan," she could hear his voice wobbling dangerously, "I'm so sorry….I- I didn't get there in time to- to save you…I didn't _know._"

Was it cruel of her to roll her eyes just then? She glanced at Kakashi, only to find an empty chair and snorted quietly. Of course. Trust Kakashi to bail the minute someone started to cry.

"Naruto," she murmured. "Shut up."

"W-what? Sakura-"

It was like kicking a dog, she thought. But at least he was actually looking at her now, even if he could not seem to meet her eyes.

"_Look at me._" He complied as best as he could, large blue eyes staring vaguely at a spot over her right shoulder.

"This was a war, Naruto. People get hurt in wars- they die. That's a fact. So you need to shut up about not being able to save me from- from whatever this was, okay? I did what I had to do; what everyone had to do because this – _this _is what we are."

Tears were rolling down his cheeks now, but her eyes were bone dry. Her voice was flat and unwavering.

"It shouldn't have been you," he choked. "Sakura- it should never have been you…"

Gently, mindful of her healing ribs, she hugged him- this warm, energetic boy who was almost her brother- and budged over so that he could lie down beside her. His hair tickled her neck and he sniffled in her ear like a frightened child. He held her like he was terrified that she would break.

"Shut up," she said again, but softer this time. "I'm not going anywhere, you idiot."

"You nearly did," Naruto mumbled. He really did sound tired. She wondered if he had slept at all in the last few days.

_This is what we are,_ she told herself, staring at the ceiling. _We are shinobi- death and blood and violence. That is all there is for us. _

"Sakura-chan," Naruto mumbled, clearly struggling not to drift into sleep. Softly, she wiped the tears from his whiskered cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she said very quietly, knowing he wouldn't hear her. There was so much that had happened that she hadn't had a chance to apologise for.

_Sorry for lying to you. Sorry for giving up on our dream to bring Sasuke back. _

_I'm sorry for telling you I was in love with you when I didn't mean it. You deserve so much better than that. _

She wouldn't apologise for ending up in a hospital bed though.

"Sakura-chan," he mumbled again, already three-quarters asleep. "Sak-ra….I have….have to tell you…S-Sa…."

His voice tailed away mid-sentence, but Sakura didn't care. It couldn't have been that important anyway.

* * *

When she next woke up, the room was pitch black and the sky outside was a blanket of impenetrable darkness, lit only by the faint beams of moonlight that occasionally peaked through the clouds.

For a moment Sakura didn't know where she was- but then Naruto shifted next to her, snoring thunderously in her ear and she felt safe.

_They're just dreams, _she told her thundering heart as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. _Dreams can't hurt me. _

She was thirsty though and wide awake. Carefully, she disentangled herself from the blonde's clutches and got to her feet. Her legs shook beneath her and she felt a little nauseas, but she made it to the door.

"There has to be a bathroom around here somewhere," she murmured, feeling her way down the hall. It was very quiet; half the troops had gone now and everyone left was probably sleeping. Only her muffled footsteps convinced her that she was not, in fact, still stuck in the Tsukuyomi.

Just thinking about it made her feel sick to her bones; the knowledge that Madara had tried very hard to destroy her mind before he killed her. It was that, more than anything else, that made her afraid.

Eventually she stumbled upon a small bathroom; the harsh glare from the bare light bulb stabbed into her eyes and made her head ache, but she was able to run a glass of water from the tap.

Sakura was thirsty, but the cold from the water radiated through her bones until she was shaking with it. Her hand trembled around the glass and she slopped water down her front.

"Damnit," she whispered, looking up to stare at her reflection. Someone had cleaned her up a little, she supposed because she was wearing a baggy blue t-shirt and dark shorts. Her hair was clean and the cuts and abrasions on her face had been tended to. Her arm was swathed in heavy bandages, making it feel stiff and clumsy.

She looked small and battered and haunted – a sight that did not endear her to herself. She was supposed to be stronger than this, wasn't she? So why did she suddenly feel like she was six years old and terrified of what might be lurking in the shadows, terrified that the darkness wasn't just playing tricks on her mind?

Turning to put the glass down, she saw a gleam of red out of the corner of her eye. The glass slipped from a numb fingers and shattered on the floor as she screamed –

But there was no one there.

Sakura retched over the sink then, petrified and exasperated in equal measure. "You're seeing things, Sakura," she told herself, gasping. She shivered in the cool night air and buried her face in her hands for a moment.

"You're going to open your eyes and walk back to your room, where you will get in to bed and fall asleep to the sound of Naruto snoring. You won't see any figments of your imagination. You won't have bad dreams."

Clumsily, she gathered up the glass pieces with her hands and dropped them in the wastepaper basket before getting to her feet. She made her slow, tremulous walk back down the corridor to her room, passing door after door and windows that cast in the pearly moonlight.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. _

Sakura froze, every nerve in her body screaming at the sound of footsteps nearby. It was coming from somewhere up ahead, she thought, but she couldn't see anything in the shadows.

Her heart was thumping traitorously in her chest, banging against her ribs like a drum. Her breath came in short, shallow gasps.

_Stop it, _she thought, trying to regain some sense of calm. _You're freaking out over nothing, Sakura. It's probably just Naruto coming to find you. _

Slowly, stiffly, she put a foot forward – and another- and then halted as she caught the briefest glimpse of the person's silhouette.

Disarrayed hair, sinuous walk, sloping shoulders –

There was a scream in her throat but she couldn't seem to open her mouth to let it out. The person stepped into a patch of moonlight and then Sakura knew she really had gone insane. Madara had unhinged her after all because the boy who stopped in front of her was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

_A/n: Ahem. Chapter Ten people - I managed to pace myself. Sort of. _

_Couldn't resist a little NarutoxHinata scene there at the beginning...I like them together :) I admire Hinata as a character because she has become someone who perseveres even at the risk of failure. I myself am the girl who does not even try. Think back to PE class - I am that girl who would let the ball sail past their ear rather than make a fool of themself trying to catch it. You know the one._

_1. My mother suggested to me today that I talk to a therapist. _

_2. Found a really cool, 1-of-a-kind jewellery store today cos it's all stuff made by a load of artists. Hello, pretty, one of a kind ring :) _


	11. Chapter Eleven

Sasuke looked much as he always did before he turned into a first rate sociopath – cold, calculating and effortlessly lethal. Just a glimpse of those dark eyes terrified her, mostly because she knew that he wasn't real.

Telling herself that did nothing to calm her frantically pounding heart though; her fear was a palpable, living thing that snaked through her. As the image of Sasuke took a step forward, she found herself taking a giant one back. She was blinking and blinking and he wasn't going away.

"You're not real," she gasped around the strange choking sensation in her throat. Perhaps it was her imagination, but she could feel phantom fingers wrapping around her neck, the ghosts of the bruises he had left behind. "You're not real –not real- not real…"

"….."

He stayed where he was, watching her with empty, black eyes. When she was younger she had loved his eyes because she could see the boy she loved behind them – no matter how expressionless he'd managed to make his face his eyes had always betrayed him. But now – now they scared her because there was nothing there. Where once there had been anger, irritation, pride… they were now bottomless in a way that she found frightening.

A hand involuntarily went to her throat then, as if by covering it she could hide from the memory of that stranglehold.

_It's not real, Sakura. Just avert your eyes and walk away. _But walking away would require her to move and her legs seemed to be frozen to the spot.

As she stood there trembling, a crash sounded somewhere up the corridor and it startled her out of the fear sneaking through her. It was odd, she thought, that her delusion of Sasuke turned towards the noise too.

"Sakura-chan!" the voice was intimately familiar and immediately comforting. Naruto's heavy footsteps sounded towards her until he appeared out of the shadows, all bright colours against the darkness. His eyes were wild.

"Sakura-"

And then he crashed into Sasuke with a very solid sounding _thump. _

"S-Sasuke-teme…" he trailed off at the other boy's pointed glare and backed hastily away, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Sakura's head was spinning. Sasuke was not a delusion. Sasuke was actually stood in front of her in the middle of the Shinobi Alliance's base- Sasuke, who was insane and cruel and very definitely Madara's ally. Delusion, or solid, undeniable presence…she wasn't sure which was worse.

"Sakura you- you look like you're going to be sick," Naruto said uneasily, starting towards her looking concerned. "Is everything-"

"I don't understand."

"What?" It was almost comical, his uneasy look of someone caught in the middle – of someone who had been caught omitting the facts.

"_What is he doing here?" _How could he be standing there with his empty eyes, when only weeks ago he'd declared his intention of destroying them all? Why did she suddenly feel like crying?

"Ummm, Sakura-chan," he took her elbow with a certain kind of desperation in his voice, "I was trying to tell you this earlier – Sasuke-teme saved me from Madara! He helped me defeat him!"

Silence. How was she supposed to respond to that? What did it even mean?

_You have to imagine yourself as a blank slate, _Sai's voice came drifting back to her for some reason. She wondered belatedly if he had come through it alright – and what about all her other friends too? Ino-pig, Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata, Kiba….

Sakura's head was swimming in confusion but she knew one thing – that what she wanted almost more than an explanation was to get away from Sasuke's cold, dark eyes and his ominous silence.

Her hand found Naruto's and gripped it tightly.

"I think I- I want to go back to bed," she said in a voice very unlike her own. Naruto looked at her in concern, his blue eyes wide, but didn't seem to mind her vice-like grip on his hand.

"But Sakura- don't you know what this means? Our promise of a lifetime – we finally got him back….." his smile was so wide and bright but Sakura felt only numbness. "He's finally coming home."

For a long moment she stared across the hallway at the dark haired boy who was everything to her- who had been everything to her- and he stared back.

She'd imagined this moment so many times over the last three years, the moment when Sasuke would _finally _come back where he belonged. The time and the setting often changed; sometimes it would be day, sometimes in the Village…sometimes she would stumble across him somewhere in the wilderness and would convince him to return with her. Other times she would find him gravely injured and save him from dying.

Whatever the daydream, it was always, _always _a moment full of joy because things were finally as they were supposed to be – Team 7 reunited at last, Sasuke home….

"So you thought you would come crawling back, did you?" Sakura asked quietly. "Well. That's certainly a change of tune. What happened? Got bored of licking the Madara's shoes?"

She was rewarded by the smallest of scowls- and she only saw it because she took special care to watch, to gage how her words would affect him. Something flickered in Sasuke's eyes. Naruto turned to look at her in horror.

"Sakura-chan!" he gasped. "What are you saying? I know this isn't you- if you knew the truth-"

She found herself rounding on him then, quiet and cold. Her face felt frozen somehow.

"And whose fault is it that I don't? You start bawling every time I actually do what everyone else does and fight my own battles, because really you still think I'm just a stupid girl who should be standing on the side lines!" Sakura felt like screaming. She realised that her hands had fisted in her hair and she was tugging at it in frustration. "You act like I'm not a part of all this and _I am. _I was on Team 7 too but none of you ever acknowledge that! Whatever this huge, great, important secret is that you have this time – you can keep it. I'm _done." _

She turned on her heel and stalked back up the corridor, doing her best to ignore the fluctuating shadows dancing around her.

"Sakura!" Naruto called behind her, but she sped up. She was done. She was so sick and tired of this- this twisted, ugly, excluding bond they had between them. She was sick of watching from the outside, of having to pretend she didn't notice that they _never _let her in. She was sick of them never acknowledging she had as much right as any of them to get herself almost killed by a raging psychopath. After all this time, it was the same old tune. _'Protect' the client; stand on the side lines while the boys do the fighting. _

As her heart pounded in her chest and her legs wobbled beneath her, it occurred to her that she had just ruined the moment she and Naruto had been striving for all these years.

Sakura stormed back into her resting room, slammed the door shut and under the cover of impenetrable darkness, burst into silent, furious tears.

* * *

Naruto was still staring after Sakura with a hand outstretched, his expression crestfallen. Sasuke himself felt he'd been slapped in the face.

"Well," the blonde boy mumbled, turning back to face him. "That could have gone better."

"Like I care."

Blue eyes surveyed him knowingly. At times like this, Naruto's ability to read him like a book was more of a curse than a blessing.

"You care," he said, "If you didn't you would have let Madara skewer me the other day. Sakura-chan is just angry right now."

He recalled her hard, green eyes boring into him and it dawned on him that he'd never actually seen Sakura angry before, not like that and certainly not at him.

"You didn't tell her I was here."

"Ah….I was getting to it," Naruto replied, looking guilty as he leaned against the wall. "What were you doing out here anyway? I thought you were supposed to be keeping a low profile until Tsunade baa-chan sends for you?"

Immediately he was uncomfortable- not for breaking the Hokage's orders but the reason for doing so.

Sasuke slept, but he never slept particularly well – a pattern that was exacerbated by nights like these, when the air was warm and still and close.

"I heard a scream," he answered. The sound had startled him and he'd gone to investigate, more out of boredom than concern. He hadn't been expecting to come across the pink haired girl who had once been his team mate, who until that moment, he had thought to be in a coma.

_You're not real, _she had gasped and it bothered him. Everything about their encounter bothered him and he knew that Naruto could see it on his face. But it had afforded him one thing at least – he now knew who's chakra he had seen threaded around Madara's sharingan.

"Well," Naruto yawned, "looks like I'm gonna have to crash in your room, teme!"

"No way."

His confinement room was too small as it was. Though he could now admit to himself that he didn't actually want Naruto's head on a platter (at least, not in the literal sense), sharing a room was several hundred steps and a giant leap too far for him. The memory of the blonde's thunderous snoring suddenly kicked in and it filled Sasuke with a sort of nameless horror.

"Awww c'mon, Sasuke – there's no way Sakura is gonna let me back into her bed now."

If he were anyone else, Sasuke might have choked. And then he decided that Sakura was a spiteful bitch and he didn't care one jot who she had in her bed with her. Not even if it was Naruto, who snored and kicked and occasionally hit people in the face while he was asleep.

Since when had those two been so close anyway?

"I hate it when she's like this," the other boy sighed, looking extremely glum. "I always mess up with her."

He thought for a moment, staring at his feet. There were questions he felt compelled to ask out of curiosity, but that would make him seem like he cared. Or something.

"You didn't tell her about the Uchiha massacre."

Naruto put his head in his hands and groaned. The air seemed suddenly very still and warm and quiet, like they were the only two people awake in the whole world. And Sasuke wondered why he was standing here talking to Naruto about a girl he had tried to kill, in the middle of the night.

_Because you are remembering who you are, _the voice said, making its first reappearance in days.

Was he?

"No, I didn't tell her. We – Kakashi-sensei, Yamato and I- had just found out ourselves and we didn't know then…if it was true or not. We didn't know what to do with the information until we could find out and then Sakura came and – and we didn't tell her. Why didn't we tell her?"

A sudden thought occurred to him then; that Sakura, when he had last seen her in the Land of Iron, had not known the reason for his uncontrollable rage or his affiliation with Akatsuki….she had not known any of it. He remembered the feel of his hand wrapping around the smooth skin of her throat, fingers crushing cruelly into her windpipe….he remembered wanting to feel her neck snap beneath his fingers before he brought the kunai down…

No matter that his hatred of her in that moment had made perfect sense to him, what could Sakura possibly have seen at that encounter, but a monster?

_Don't think about it, _he told himself. _I don't care what Sakura thinks of me. I've never cared what Sakura thinks. _

"Sasuke…" Naruto interrupted his scattered and uncomfortable thoughts.

"….."

"What made you change your mind?"

When he didn't answer, the blonde elaborated. "I mean- was it just about the clan for you? Do me and Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei matter to you at all? Even a little bit?"

For a long moment he had no intention of answering, more out of ingrained habit than anything else. He had spent most of their limited interaction in the last three years, trying to beat it through Naruto's thick skull, just how much he _didn't _care. But Tsunade's words drifted back to him and replayed in his mind in an uncomfortable loop.

'_You'd better not hurt them again, Uchiha. I'm tired of picking up the broken pieces you leave behind you.'_

And it occurred to him then, that maybe Naruto didn't have quite as much confidence in their bond as he had earlier professed. At least, not on Sasuke's side anyway.

Grinding his teeth together, he said. "I could have taken Madara on my own."

Let the dobe work it out, he thought, striding silently back to his annoying, little room. He already felt like he had said too much.

* * *

"What the hell are you _doing, _forehead?"

There were times in her life when Ino was the one person in the world she wanted to talk to. Now was not necessarily one of them.

Sakura, in the middle of changing her shirt, gave the blonde girl her most disparaging look. Shikamaru, who had been trailing behind Ino when she burst into Sakura's room, made an uncharacteristic choking sound and backed into the hallway.

"Geez Ino," they heard him say, "this is why you're supposed to knock."

"Oh shut up," Ino snapped at him, perfectly blasé. "You act like you've never seen a girl in her bra before."

Sakura sighed quietly and pulled on the black t shirt that had been left folded by her bed.

"Hello Ino," she said. "Nice to see you're alive and all."

Ino ignored her. "What are you doing?" she repeated looking outraged. "You've been unconscious for three days! You're supposed to be in bed!"

"Yes, because lying around like a vegetable is really useful when there are hundreds of injured shinobi who need to be taken care of before they can go home."

The blonde stalked over and tried to forcibly push Sakura down on the bed. "And you're one of them idiot! You nearly died!"

Sakura dodged her outstretched arms with ease and started looking for a spare skirt or something. "So did a lot of people. "

"SHIKAMARU," Ino bellowed, looking murderous. "Back me up here!"

He poked his head cautiously through the doorway, a hand over his eyes. "Why are you getting me involved, you troublesome woman?"

"_Because!"_ Ino shouted, like it was the most logical explanation in the world. Sakura and Shikamaru shared a look, then simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"Listen, pig," she began. "I'm fine now-"

"Bullshit!"

Ino glared at Shikamaru, who made a hasty exit, pulling the door shut behind him. When it was just the two of them, she rounded on Sakura with a look of indignation.

"Don't lie to me, Sakura," she said, "You might be able to fool Shizune-sempai and everyone else, but I _know _you. I know what you're doing."

Sakura kept her expression carefully blank, as she searched for her boots. Last night had been awful. She had no intention of talking about it ever.

"Oh really?"

Ino folded her arms and perched herself on the bed, eyes narrowed and very serious. "Going back to work the moment you can stand upright won't stop you from having to deal with it eventually."

She couldn't quite stop her shoulders from hunching defensively. "I'm not running away from anything."

"Bullshit," Ino said again. "I can see it in your eyes. So you're going to sit down and talk to me before I let you go anywhere near other patients. If you leave, I'll just have Shikamaru trap you with his shadow jutsu."

Well that was irritating. Sakura loved Ino, she really did, but sometimes she was the most annoying person she knew. Still, she could not ignore that her best friend's actions, misguided as they were, were coming from a place of genuine concern.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked eventually, leaning against the wall. "I feel well enough to help, Ino. Isn't that the most important thing?"

The other girl shook her head, blue eyes subdued. There was a new thinness to her face that wasn't there when they left Konoha and Sakura knew that she wasn't the only one who bad things had happened to in the last week or so.

"I'm not stupid. Everyone is saying Madara was under some kind of genjutsu when Naruto and- and Sasuke-kun fought him. And I heard Kakashi-sensei telling Hokage-sama it wasn't there when he confronted the two of you."

Sakura stayed silent. Just the mention of Sasuke's name made her shiver, a horrible cold feeling creeping over her skin.

"So I ask myself – who was the last person to see Madara before Naruto did?" Ino eyed her beadily.

"Why are you asking me if you already know the answer, pig?"

The other girl sighed and tilted her head back so she was looking at the ceiling. "Inner-Sakura's still alive and kicking, I assume. I know how you did it. You let him mess around in your head until she woke up with a vengeance, am I right?"

Sakura hung her head, pink hair falling across her face in knotted strands. It was longer now, already reaching just past her shoulders. There was something nice about that.

"Have you – have you told anyone?"

Her friend looked satisfied now that Sakura was beginning to open up. "I haven't had the chance yet. But I knew it, as soon as the rumours started spreading. He got in so far that you managed to overpower the Tsukuyomi and turn it around on him, didn't you?"

Sakura didn't answer. Though they shared many similar traits – both were stubborn, bossy and fiercely competitive- their shared silence was one of quiet understanding. If Naruto was the brother that she had never had, then Ino was something like a beloved sister.

"It's all thanks to you," she admitted, voice wavering ever so slightly, "I remembered our match you know – the first chunnin exam. I knew it was my only chance."

"And it worked," Ino said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "You beat him."

They sat there in a companionable silence for a long time, both of them weighing their words and taking comfort in the fact that they had not lost each other. Outside the sky grew brighter as the sun rose higher in the sky. There were no birds though, only the moans of the most severely injured and dying. Everything should have been so right in the world on a day like this, with victory in the air – but it wasn't. Everything was still wrong.

Sakura clamped her lips together mulishly and folded her arms across her chest defensively. "Look – I know I'm not in great shape right now," she said, her voice beginning to waver, "but if I don't do something to help…I'm going to go insane. There's too much that I don't want to think about right now. _I can't." _

Ino let out a shallow breath. "You've seen Sasuke," she said carefully, scrutinising her with concerned eyes.

Her bowed head was all the answer her blonde best friend needed.

"I'll walk you down to the medic tents," Ino said. "I've been helping out the past few days, but…"

It was a complete turn around from the start of their conversation and Sakura was grateful. One day, she thought, when she'd had time to process everything that had happened, she would be able to tell Ino everything. And Ino, in return, would do the same. But her deadly battle of wills with Madara, the terrifying and hostile meeting with Sasuke in the Land of Iron, her terrible outburst the previous night….it was all too raw, too fresh in her mind to talk about today.

"Thank you Ino-chan," she said, touching her forehead to her best friend's shoulder. Ino patted Sakura's pink hair affectionately.

"It'll be okay," the blonde said quietly. Sakura nodded; she could only hope that one day, maybe, Ino's words would come out true.

* * *

"Wait!"

It would be a lie for Sasuke to say he was surprised when Naruto's voice rang out on the cool evening air, but his expression certainly startled him. The blonde appeared out of nowhere, Kakashi at his side and the ANBU the Hokage had sent to escort him to Konohagakure visibly relaxed, the hands that had immediately moved to their weapons stilling at their sides.

Sasuke, however, felt his shoulders tense up at the sudden appearance of his old teacher. He hadn't seen Kakashi once since he'd been at the Alliance Base – given that he hadn't Sakura's excuse of being unconscious he had assumed he was avoiding him. Noticing the grave expression in the silver haired man's one visible eye, he thought it was safe to say his assumption had been correct.

"Kakashi-san," the ANBU operative on his right greeted him. "What is the meaning of this?"

His departure was supposed to be a secret after all; the whole point of this operation was that no one would know he had left the neutral confines of the Alliance Base until he was safely _in _the Hidden Leaf Village.

"There are probably hundreds of nin out there just _waiting _for the opportunity to assassinate you," Tsunade had said, levelling him with an irate glare before she left. "So for Godsake, lay low while I organise a guard party to collect you and behave yourself!"

Well Sasuke thought, sighing very quietly, he had done as the Godaime ordered. Other than his little run in with Sakura the night before, the only person he had talked to at all was Naruto.

"I'm going with you!" Naruto said with his usual steely resolve, but his blue eyes were uncharacteristically agitated. Sasuke expected them to argue with him, to ignore and belittle him like the villagers always had – and was thoroughly astonished when they did not. Instead, the masked ninja's at his side accepted his statement without comment, merely turning to Kakashi for confirmation.

"Hokage-sama is doubtlessly expecting him," was all his former teacher said. The ANBU captain nodded respectfully.

"We move out in five minutes, Uzumaki-san."

And then his so called 'protectors' went back to their preparations and proceeded to ignore Sasuke. It was odd how, even with their faces concealed, they managed to give him the impression they were not exactly thrilled with their assignment to escort him. For that reason alone, he was almost glad Naruto was accompanying them. Almost.

He kept his face blank as the blonde moved to stand by his side – but Kakashi held him back with a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Sensei?" Sasuke heard him ask. He averted his face and stared out at the darkening night sky with bland eyes and told himself that he wasn't listening. It wasn't his fault he had sharp hearing.

"What is it?"

"I don't think I need to tell you to be careful," he heard the older man say quietly. "Sasuke might be cooperating but he is still dangerous. Whatever happens on this journey, you must not draw attention to yourselves."

While his stomach churned, Naruto rose to his defence. "He won't hurt me, Kakashi. I mean- I know he's done some messed up stuff but he's still Sasuke. He's finally coming _home._"

From the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi out an arm around Naruto's shoulders, steering him around to mute their discussion.

"It's not you I'm worried about," he muttered. "If someone gets wind that he's out in the open and attacks him, what do you think will happen? The Hokage can only do so much to keep the other nations at bay Naruto. He can't afford to slip up even once."

"I- I understand." The blonde's head was lowered, "that's why I'm going with him tonight even though things are such a mess. It's – it's hard to choose…"

_What is he talking about? _Sasuke wondered. He turned his head slightly, straining to make out the rest of their muted conversation. There was a slight pause.

"Sakura isn't going with you." There was a question in the statement he was sure, but Sasuke felt his jaw tense at the mention of her name.

"No, she….I don't think she wants to be around….us…right now."

Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair distractedly. "That's the last thing we need, but I can't exactly say I'm surprised. Alright – you go with Sasuke, I'll talk to Sakura."

"_You?" _

"Yes, me." Perhaps it was Sasuke's imagination but he rather thought his old sensei sounded peeved. "I'm not the one she's angry with."

"You're the one who wouldn't let me tell her about the massacre!" Naruto hissed, too loudly for Sasuke's liking.

"Quiet down!"

"Yeah, yeah, alright you old bastard." Naruto grumped, rubbing the back of his head moodily. "I heard you already. Just don't make things worse, okay? I need her to be okay with all this."

There was another pause, longer this time, in which Sasuke found his hands clenched into tight fists.

"Naruto," Kakashi said at last, his voice a faint murmur. "The last time Sakura saw Sasuke, he was trying to kill her. I don't think she's had the chance to even start trying to deal with that – and now she's had the biggest psychopath in the history of the world messing around with her head. It's going to take some time before she is okay with anything."

"And what about you?" Naruto asked. "You haven't even acknowledged him yet."

"I care about Sasuke just as much as I ever did," Kakashi said in a voice as gentle as Sasuke had ever heard from him. "But even 'old bastards' like me need time. Give him my regards, won't you?"

And, true to his nature, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Coughing slightly, Naruto jogged over to where Sasuke waited for him.

"Stupid old man," the blonde grumbled. "I hate it when he does that."

"We're moving out now," the ANBU captain drawled. "Get into formation and if you know what's good for you, you'll _try _to be discreet, Uzumaki."

As they set out under cover of darkness, the cold night air whipping against his skin and through his hair, it suddenly occurred to Sasuke that Kakashi could have had that conversation elsewhere.

Running towards Konoha – _home, _a disloyal voice in his head insisted- he could only conclude that Kakashi had wanted him to hear every word he had said.

A glance to his left revealed Naruto's uncharacteristically solemn face staring straight out into the darkness ahead and Sasuke felt like there was a cold fist in his chest, squeezing uncomfortably.

It would be a lie, he thought, to say he'd ever spent a great deal of time imagining what it would be like if he ever returned to Konoha. But even so, the few times he had imagined returning…well. Suffice to say that scenario had never turned out anything like this.

* * *

_A/n: What the hell is up with fanfiction's 'reply to review' links? Is it just me that is having problems with it? UGH. _

_Anyway, sorry I couldn't respond to last chapter's reviews guys - know that I really appreciated them and so I'd like to give a shout out to: _

Miss Chocolat, tenshi303, the 8th Stone, Whitney Rockafella, LaughsRFun, too addicted to fiction, LuvNjewlz14, pirateKitten11893, Livvy22, ilikesquidward, Tukiko Kinikia_ (you would not believe how many times I have had to type your penname trying to spell it correctly_), Senka Hitomi, SweetAngels123_ (thanks for the consolation_), mistressinwaiting, EbonyEye, Avaricea, shasa...

_And of course the unfailingly awesome_ Kaze and Kiba_ and_ Sakura's Unicorn. _(Seriously. My brain cannot handle these sudden changes in pennames. I am going to have to call you UNICORN from now on :S ) _

_So now that's all out the way...OHMYGOD. I think Kishimoto must be on holiday or something, because SAKURA WAS AWESOME in chapter 540. Shame Neji was actually...well, not Neji. Really. I was kind of starting to ship EvilNeji!XSakura for a week or so. _

_Never mind. Let's all pray that Kishi will stay locked up in his closet or something so Sakura can keep on being kickass and not totally useless. _

_1. What is your favourite anime? (other than Naruto, obviously)_

_2. Is anyone else in love with Chris Hemsworth from _Thor? He is SO GOOD LOOKING. (I find it very pleasing when actors from my favourite soap make it in holllywood)


	12. Chapter Twelve

In the light of the early morning sunrise, Konoha was almost beautiful. Beneath the yawning great sky its rooftops were bathed in streams of pale sunlight and the craggy features of Hokage mountain were softly illuminated in a way that was jarringly, intimately familiar. It was a sight that he had not seen for three and a half years – and despite everything, despite the destruction and blood that was almost a decade soaked into the foundations of the village, there was a strange feeling in Sasuke's chest that grew with every step he took. It was in the sound of the dry, dirt ground beneath his feet – the sweet, flowery smell in the air that took him _back, back, back…_

Naruto, who had remained by his side throughout the entirety of their swift and silent journey said nothing, but there was a renewed urgency in the set of his stride – a sudden intensity to his deep blue eyes. His face softened.

Time moved strangely then; it seemed to take both an age and yet, somehow no time at all, for the small group of shinobi to reach Konoha's vast walls. The gate he had passed through on a lonely, quiet night loomed up before him – so long ago it seemed now- and Sasuke found his eyes drawn to the buildings and roads that lay beyond it. Sound was muffled by this painful awareness – that every part of him, from the deepest cells in his body to the blood thrumming through his veins was singingwith a nameless emotion he thought he had long ago cast aside. It was only once he had passed through Konoha's imposing gates that he realised the view before him was not the one he had so ruthlessly left behind.

"No dawdling," the ANBU captain snapped at him, as Sasuke's footsteps slowed.

Scowling, he followed them towards the Hokage Palace, perhaps one of the few buildings he recognised. Everywhere he looked he saw remnants of destruction; mounds of rubble lay piled at frequent intervals and many streets looked as though they were in the midst of rebuilding.

A sideways glance at the blonde in the group revealed the somewhat grim downturn of Naruto's mouth, a strange tightness around his eyes that spoke of recent tragedy.

The things he vaguely remembered from early mornings in Konoha were, he slowly realised, conspicuous by their absence. He remembered the sound of noodle dough slapping against wooden surfaces and quiet birdsong accompanying the rise of the sun. He remembered that even at this early hour the streets had been bustling with early morning shoppers and children running off to the Academy. The streets were eerily quiet now.

"Man," Naruto grumbled suddenly, "I could really go for some Ichiraku ramen, but I bet the old man is in hiding with the rest of the civilians."

_Ichiraku's?_ He vaguely recalled the ramen booth the blonde had frequented back in their genin days – the few times he had succeeded in dragging him and Sakura along with him. No matter that Sasuke had never been so keen on the stuff, it was a relief in a way, to find this one thing from those days that had not changed.

"You and your ramen fixation," he muttered before he could stop himself. He pretended not to notice the blonde's sudden exuberant grin, as though with those five words alone he had somehow made the sun rise.

"I'm going to take the high road here," he said, but the laughter in his voice made Sasuke somewhat doubtful. "Really. I won't say a word about your freaky _tomato fetish._"

He glared, more out of an attempt to hide his surprise than out of any real malice. How long had it been since he'd eaten a tomato anyway? How long had it been since he had actually paid attention to something as trivial as food?

The moment passed and before he knew it Sasuke was being unceremoniously shoved into Tsunade's office, the blonde idiot at his side stumbling heavily.

"NARUTO." Sasuke could have reached out and stopped the heavy textbook from smacking into the other boy's head, but he found the loud _THUNK _of Naruto's skull cracking open rather therapeutic.

Also, he was just pleased the Hokage had chosen to throw the heavy projectile at someone who wasn't him.

"Owwww! Baa-chan! What the heck was that for?"

"For crashing a classified ANBU operation, that's what. And _don't _call me baa-chan!"

Naruto gulped and retreated into a dark corner of the office mumbling something about tyrannical, abusive females.

"I see you're in one piece," Tsunade said grumpily and Sasuke assumed that was all the greeting he was going to get. She kicked a chair towards him looking bad tempered. "Sit down."

"What about me?" Naruto demanded, braving his Hokage's foul mood. She eyed him beadily before sighing. "Yes alright. You might as well stay and listen – God knows I won't have a moment's peace if I try and kick you out now."

She leaned backwards to unearth a bottle of sake from where she had buried it in the pot of an overlarge house plant as Naruto cheered and careened across the room to the only other seat, sending it skidding across the floor.

"Brat," Tsunade muttered out the side of her mouth, but didn't otherwise punish him for colliding with the front of her desk. Looking at the expression of long-suffering on her face, Sasuke almost felt sorry for her.

"So," she announced without preamble, after taking a long gulp of sake. "Let's get this out the way. As a missing-nin Uchiha, I reserve the right to have you executed-"

"Woah, woah, _WOAH!" _Naruto started to flail at the word 'execution', "You're not really going to kill him are you? Tsunade ba- I mean, uh Hokage-sama-"

"Quiet," the woman behind the desk barked, amber eyes narrowing. "If I was interested in having your friend executed I would have ordered it back at the base. As it is, I'm hard pressed for time. We need to get your sentencing sorted before the other countries and the village elders can start interfering."

Just mentioning the elders made his blood boil. His feelings about Konoha itself might be mixed and confusing, but his hatred of the village elders was still as resolute as it had been before he took down Danzou. If Naruto felt the killing intent radiating off him he hid it well, his sudden quiet the only indication he was aware anything was amiss. Tsunade scowled at him.

"Stop it," she said. "Like it or not, the elders are prominent figureheads in the running of the village. You can't just walk up to them in the middle of the day and cut their throats."

"You promised me justice," he reminded her, not bothering to keep the rage out of his voice.

"_Justice," _she repeated with an emphasis on the word, "Not vengeance. By all means, go for an all out assassination and spend the rest of your miserable life running from our hunter-nins. That's a fine way to restore the honour of your clan."

Their gazes clashed furiously for a moment, but he didn't speak. To his surprise it was Naruto who broke the silence, his manner suddenly serious.

"What action are you going to take, Hokage-sama?" he asked, looking at her with wide eyes.

Tsunade snorted and took another swig of her favoured alcoholic drink. "I've just had a clause added to the law regarding missing-nin." She said. "To get what we want, everything from here on out has to be done _legally, _do you understand? That's what justice is."

Still fuming slightly, Sasuke said nothing. "As of this morning, the Hokage has the power to sentence a missing-nin without the consultation of the village elders. There are circumstances obviously, but I won't go into those now – the point is that I can decide your punishment without interference."

_Punishment, _he thought uncomfortably. Punishment implied wrong-doing and Sasuke wasn't so sure what actions he regretted and which he would do again in a heartbeat if he had to. If Itachi really had been a lunatic murderer, then he would have been quite within his right to desert Konoha in his quest to hunt him down. If everything had been as he always believed it was, he would have no regrets to speak of.

"Are you listening?" Tsunade demanded, beating her fist on the desk. Cracks spiderwebbed across the wooden surface, but it didn't break like last time he saw her do that.

"Aa."

She was glaring at him again. He wondered if it was wise to antagonise the woman who was about to decide his fate, but he couldn't bring himself to force a mask of politeness. She would see through it anyway.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she began, taking up the formal tone of the Hokage rather than an irate alcoholic in the middle of a turbulent menopause, "you have chosen to return to Konohgakure to face the charges against you as a missing-nin. You are accused of abandoning and deserting your Hidden Village, of consorting with enemies Konohagakure and attempting to physically harm your former comrades. Do you deny them ?"

Naruto's face was pale; sat half in shadow, his blue eyes glittered strangely. Sasuke noticed his hands were clenched into fists, his knuckles bone white and jutting through his skin.

"No," he muttered, almost wishing that he could. His actions sounded much worse than he had considered them at the time. Perhaps it was odd, but despite the multiple times he'd told Naruto he had cut his ties to his home, he had never really thought of himself as committing treason.

"However…you have also neutralised several threats to Konohagakure's security, including the Sannin Orochimaru and Akatsuki member Uchiha Madara. The latter played a significant role in ending the Fourth Shinobi World War, an action that may justify the instatement of a more lenient sentence on your behalf. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Though he hid it behind a façade of impassiveness, Sasuke was grateful and appreciative that she did not include Itachi in the list of threats to Konoha. It was that, more than anything else, that convinced him Tsunade meant it when she said she would get him justice for the massacre of his clan. He felt his shoulders relax the tiniest bit.

"Hey-" Naruto suddenly interrupted. "What happened to Kabuto? Isn't he still out there somewhere OW!"

"Don't interrupt when your Hokage is speaking!" Tsunade yelled, her composure slipping momentarily. Noticing their curious expressions, she huffed irritably and said, "But while we're on the subject, it'll interest you to know that Kabuto has been eliminated."

She glared at them both for a moment, then resumed where Naruto had interrupted her.

"In light of your redeeming actions I sentence you, Uchiha Sasuke, to a year's worth of probation and a month's house arrest, under ANBU watch at all times- after which I will review your sentencing. Do you understand?"

The blonde Hokage glared at him until he nodded, his heart sinking. It looked like he was in for a fun year.

"Alright then, now that's taken care of," she sighed, slumping back in her chair. "I'm going to name you as a witness in an upcoming trial. That should protect you from any ill-wishers you might have gained in your absence – and it certainly gives you diplomatic immunity from the other nations."

"…A trial?"

"Good lord, boy – I thought you were halfway intelligent," Tsunade muttered, taking another swig from the bottle. "Now I'm going to give you a good piece of advice, alright? No one knows you are here yet. Until the civilians and the rest of the shinobi come back you can wander around as much as you please – but the minute the villagers return, you stay in your godamnned apartment, d'you hear me? Keep your nose clean and stay out of the way. I've got enough to worry about without having to worry about you keeping a low profile."

That made him a little bit angry. "Am I your prisoner now?" He demanded, already wondering if he had done the right thing in coming back.

"Don't be ridiculous."

She waved them away with a weary hand, already looking somewhat drawn. "Now get out of my damn office – not you Naruto! I want a word with you about my apprentice."

Taken aback, Sasuke was slow to stand. A heated glare in his direction however, sent him stalking out the double doors without a backwards glance.

The ghosts of the Uchiha district were calling him.

* * *

She closed the door quietly behind her, numb fingertips curled around the cool handle and stood there for a long moment with her head bowed. It was uncomfortably warm in the long confines of the corridor – the wooden walls seemed to be absorbing all the air, so that there didn't seem to be enough to go around. She wished it would rain, if only to get some kind of relief from the humidity that was starting to grate on her nerves.

Slowly she released her grip on the handle, letting her arm drop to hang uselessly by her side. In the quiet that had momentarily sprung up around her Kakashi's words repeated themselves over and over in a loop that she could not shake. _Corruption….Konoha ordered Itachi…..massacre….conspiracy…._

"Sakura?"

"I'm not crying," Sakura heard herself say. She felt numb – disjointed somehow. It seemed to take a huge effort to drag herself up and back into the present. She blinked heavily, forcing her head up and saw that a dark haired, dark eyed boy was stood before her, his expression crinkled into one of concern. Several heartbeats passed before she realised said boy was _Sai. _

"You appear to be upset and distracted," he observed, even as she threw her arms around him. It made her absurdly happy that, after a moment of slight uncertainty, he hugged her back.

"I didn't know what had happened to you! After Zabuzza came- I lost track and I didn't know where you were…"

Pulling back, Sakura noticed that there was a bit more colour to his face than there had been. His hair, usually so neatly styled, was in slight disarray and his face had lost the mask-like quality to it. He looked more like a person, she realised and not like a life sized doll pretending to be one.

"I see," he said, a little furrow wrinkling between his brows. "You were worried about me?"

"Yeah," she told him, stepping back and letting her arms fall to her sides. "Of course I was."

He looked at her questioningly. "Because we are friends."

"Yes, we are." She peered at him closely. "Did something happen, Sai?"

"I will tell you about it in a moment, Sakura. But first you must tell me if you are okay."

Frowning, she replied, "Yes, I'm fine-"

"Because I visited you while you were unconscious," he interrupted, "and you very much did not look fine. You looked small."

Silence hung between them for a small moment as Sakura was filled with wonder. The heavy weight pressing down on her since Kakashi had first started speaking over an hour ago was lessened slightly by the realisation his words had sparked in her.

"Sai, were you….worried about me?"

He nodded and she thought he looked very young and very innocent. "I did not like seeing you in a hospital bed," he confided. "It made my stomach twist and my chest feel tight."

Stunned, Sakura could only nod, absently noting the heat bearing down on them. She'd been up, making the rounds in the medic tents all night, doing her best to take away the pain and heal the injuries of the wounded and now she was exhausted. The humidity made everything worse; it made her limbs lethargic and her skin uncomfortably sticky. She wanted to lie down and take a shower and find somewhere very quiet and secluded where she could hide and just stop thinking for a while.

"You told me once that you didn't have emotions," she said, recalling his blank eyes and expressionless smile. "What changed?"

Sai considered her question for a moment. "I saw my brother," he said, sounding almost bewildered. "He had been revived by the Edo Tensei technique and it made me – angry."

"Oh no," she said softly, even as the horror crept back to curl in her stomach for a long stay. Loathing flooded through her at the memory of Kabuto's cold smile, his amoral amusement. "Sai, I'm- I'm so very sorry."

His face creased and Sakura thought he looked almost normal. "What are you not crying about?" He asked, changing topics abruptly. The scrutiny of his gaze was different, though no less intense. Before it had always been – clinical, if she had to choose a word to describe it – a sort of intellectual curiosity that prompted him to _watch _and _observe _and _catalogue _her emotions and reasoning, as though by doing so he could somehow bridge the gap between the world and his limited understanding. Now though, concern outweighed curiosity. It made it both harder and easier to evade him- easier because his new understanding relieved the burden of honesty and harder because now he would sense it if she chose to evade the question or answer with a lie.

"All sorts of things," she said quietly, something like despair settling in her bones. Yes, all sorts of things- lost boys and broken hearts and martyrs that pretended to be villains. Ruined lives and bloody secrets and shattered innocence. And the corruption at the heart of it all, hiding behind a façade of honour and wisdom and a guiding hand- all those things that children trusted the most.

Sai put a hand on her shoulder, but the pressure intensifying in her chest was too bitter for tears.

"Everything is alright now," he told her and the look in his eyes was so…hopeful, she realised- but he was wrong. He was so wrong. Things had not been alright for a long time. As her dark haired friend walked away, the anger that was so close to the surface these days flared up and curled in her veins, intermingling with the dreadful sorrow crashing in her chest.

For a long moment she stared at the limp sunshine, burning like a cinder in the silver-grey sky.

'_Do you know what I want? I want to destroy Konoha!' _The words of the monster with Sasuke's face came back to her then, cold and dark and uncompromising. She remembered the look in his eyes – the way he had thrown everything away for a bond of hatred that had only ever been an elaborate lie.

And then she thought of someone else; someone she had only ever met once, but whose eyes had looked right through her. She had thought the apathy in his face was that of a cold hearted killer and for many nights she had lain awake despising this man who had so destroyed the life of someone she loved. Now she wondered if Itachi had worn that blank expression as a mask to hide behind while he played the role of the villain. She wondered how he could have spent all those years pretending to be a monster out of loyalty to a village that had done nothing but betray him.

Truthfully, the idea made her feel sick to her very bones.

_I don't want to be a part of this, _Sakura thought, lifting a trembling hand to cover her eyes. _I don't want to fight for a village that turns its children into tailed beasts and emotionless tools and clan killers and massacre survivors. _

She turned to walk away, tumultuous thoughts churning around in her head like the spin of a clothes dryer- the same things kept swimming back to the surface no matter how many times she tried to force her brain into simply shutting up.

Sakura needed a shower. She needed a good two hours sleep and a whole lot of coffee to take the edge off.

After that, she thought, the only sound in the corridor that of her softly clacking footsteps – after that, she would talk again with Kakashi.

There were things she hadn't thought to ask under the burden of all that information. She guessed he had understood this, understood that she needed time for the truth to sink in before she could even think about what it might mean. But Sakura was clever and the shock was already giving way to a deep, smouldering anger deep in her bones. She thought again of Itachi Uchiha's passive, dark eyes.

_I don't want to be a part of this. _

* * *

In the two days since her talk with Kakashi, Sakura had successfully run herself into the ground taking care of the remaining patients at the Shinobi Alliance Base. Things were finally starting to quieten down; all the Kages had returned to their villages now and the troops were leaving in groups every day.

"Sakura," Shizune's quiet voice cut through the haze of sleep and chakra depravation like an axe. Blinking stupidly, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the cot she'd collapsed onto about ten minutes beforehand. Her head was pounding.

"Do Manari's bandages need changing again?"

"No, no. Everything's fine." The older woman hesitated for a moment before handing her a scroll. "This just came for you."

Looking down at the familiar handwriting, a slight crease manifested between her eyebrows. "It's from Tsunade."

She read the contents through twice, just to be sure and forced herself to her feet. Her bandaged arm was itching again and a headache throbbed miserably away at her temples. Not a great time to embark on a long journey, but it couldn't be helped. A little discomfort was nothing.

"Sorry Shizune," Sakura apologised already heading to the tent entrance. "I have to go."

Her sempai waved her apology off carelessly, but she felt bad leaving her in the lurch when there were still patients to care for. Hurrying through the thick night air, she made her way to the small room she was technically supposed to be recuperating in and immediately started collecting her stuff together. Antidotes, rolls of gauze, wooden splints- she shoved what remained of her supplies into her medic-pouch and sought a fresh change of clothes, trying her best to ignore the shadows in the corner of the room. The rest of her clothes she discarded; she would replace them when she got back to Konoha. Her katana - Neji had apparently retrieved both of her swords for her while she was unconscious- she strapped to her back, the longsword she hastily sealed in a weapons scroll.

"Yo," Kakashi said from the window, almost startling her out of her mind. He avoided the kunai she flung in his direction with something almost like difficulty and shot her an injured look.

"Your aim has gotten better."

She grimaced at him, meticulously adjusting her kunai holster. "You still managed to sneak up on me though, sensei."

"Nothing to be ashamed of, Sakura-chan. There are Kage out there who still can't sense me coming."

Eyeing his profile in the pale moonlight – the unruly hair and nonchalant line of his shoulders- she felt comforted by his familiarity. For the first time in all the years that she had known him, she felt that he belonged to her as equally as he did to Naruto and to Sasuke.

"I should have known you would slither out of your responsibilities the first chance you got," she muttered, taking note of the pack slung carelessly over his shoulder. True to form, he held an orange book in one of his hands.

"Anyone would think you didn't want my company."

Kakashi didn't really sound affronted. Between Naruto, Ino and Tsunade it was actually refreshing to be around someone who didn't start yelling every five minutes. Where they were exuberant, melodramatic and volatile, he was a voice of resolute calm.

Nothing like her father had been.

"Are you ready?" She asked instead of answering. She felt like someone had smacked her head with a sledgehammer and coupled with her aggravated arm, Sakura was feeling increasingly snappish.

How nice it would be to sleep in her own bed again.

"Are you?"

"All packed," she grumped, moving towards the window. She sensed rather than saw his frown.

"Not what I meant," Kakashi murmured, stowing his book away and placing a hand on top of her aching head. "Sasuke is already in Konoha you know. You won't be able to avoid him forever."

Sakura exhaled sharply through her nose but didn't shove his hand away. "Avoiding someone suggests that the person you're evading is actively looking for you." She smiled humourlessly. "I think we both know I won't have any trouble on that account."

"Sasuke cared about you," he told her, but his voice was too melancholy to be convincing. "Sakura-"

"Come on," she was already leaping through the open window, leaving Kakashi and his meaningless words behind in a rush of warm, stagnant air. The sky was very dark; somehow the stars seemed further away than they ever had before.

* * *

The red haired kunoichi in front of her shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot, arms protectively crossed against her chest. Her eyes were downcast.

"I don't suppose I need to inform you that Uchiha Sasuke has returned to the Konoha." Tsunade said, watching the flicker of fear that passed over the girl's face with clinical interest.

"No," she replied, hesitating for a moment before adding, "I could feel his chakra from Konohagakure's border."

Despite herself, Tsunade was impressed; though the red-head was clearly not great in combat, her talent as a sensor was unparalleled by any other she had ever seen. Glancing down again at the file on the desk before her, she could see why Karin had caught Orochimaru's interest. She had been young, alone and talented – easy to manipulate.

His favourite kind.

"…I don't want to see him." The words appeared to have slipped out before she could swallow them back and Tsunade eyed her beadily.

"But you want to swear allegiance to Konoha, I believe?"

Karin fidgeted. "Yes. I don't have anywhere else to go and Konoha has been kind to me."

The blonde Hokage waved a dismissive hand, the back of her throat burning. Perhaps she was feeling…sentimental, but in some ways she was reminded her of another young girl she'd known; both talented in a particular field, both discarded by their team mates. Both vulnerable.

"But you're scared of him. Sasuke, I mean." She tapped her fingers impatiently against the surface of the desk.

The lack of answer was as good as a confirmation. She knew why of course; it was all there in the report, how Sasuke had sacrificed her for the sake of his vendetta, how she had survived only due to Sakura's timely intervention.

"Then answer me this," Tsunade said, watching her face closely for any signs of evasion or deceit. "Did you know what it was that Madara told Sasuke to turn him against the Hidden Leaf?"

"…Yes." Karin flushed, looking strangely…guilty. "He never told us- but I overheard them talking a few times. Enough to put the pieces together."

For the first time since Karin had been brought to her office, Tsunade smiled. The red-head started, clearly taken aback by so friendly a gesture; she wondered how long it had been since someone had done something as nice as simply to smile at her.

"Thank you Karin," she said softly. "I'll have the papers drawn up for your instigation as a kunoichi of Konohagakure tomorrow."

Looking confused and a little relieved, the red-head bowed clumsily and allowed herself to be escorted from the office by the ANBU stationed outside.

Tsunade sighed quietly and for a moment longer, resisted the temptation to pour herself a glass of sake. Instead she gazed out the window over Konoha's rooftops feeling something like hope rising in her chest for the first time in a long while. The war was over. Naruto had done what Jiraiya never could and had succeeded in bringing his wayward teammate home.

She felt as if she had been standing in a circle her entire life, watching history repeat itself over and over – and now finally, someone had broken the chain.

For the first time the Hokage robes did not seem like a burden to be shouldered until the day she died. They looked to her like the promise of change.

* * *

"So," Naruto said, lurking in the doorway like a particularly bad smell. "This is the shithole Tsunade baa-chan dumped you in, huh?"

Sasuke, sat on the windowsill of his tiny apartment sent a pointed glare the blonde's way, but otherwise didn't dignify him with an answer.

"Are you coming in or not?"

There was a moment in which the other boy pretended to consider it, blue eyes darting around the sparse apartment as though he was waiting for cockroaches to start crawling out the walls. Sasuke couldn't see why. Other than being almost completely empty and still retaining that new woodish smell, it was a perfectly adequate living space. A bit on the small side, obviously, but nothing like the hovel Naruto resided in. Sasuke highly doubted that Naruto had at any point developed the IQ necessary to make him desire personal sanitation in the last three years or so. Wherever he lived now would be strewn with empty ramen cups, dirty clothes, bugs and cartons of long congealed milk. It was kind of a miracle that the blonde was still alive, living the way he did.

"I guess I'll come in since you're _so _desperate for my company." Naruto slouched through the door and made a beeline for the kitchen area. Sasuke could guess what he was after.

"SASUKE. THERE IS NO RAMEN IN YOUR KITCHEN. THE END OF THE WORLD IS COMING."

"Shut up, dobe." He muttered, in the face of the other boy's immediate and irritating panic. "And take your shoes off if you're staying."

Obediently, Naruto toed his nin-sandals off where he stood and continued lamenting the lack of his favourite food-stuffs in Sasuke's apartment. Ignoring him, he went back to examining the scroll lying across his knees. He was able to give it his full attention for a good five minutes before he realised Naruto was peering out the window over his shoulder with a vaguely confused expression.

"Don't stand so close to me," he ground out, narrowing his eyes. The blonde ignored him.

"Why do I feel like I've been here before?"

It was a perfectly ordinary apartment building, save for Sasuke and a middle-aged woman on the fourth floor, it was currently unoccupied. He supposed the other residents were still in hiding.

"Because you are a moron," Sasuke replied, going back to his scroll.

"No," he was vaguely aware of Naruto saying. "I think I've been here before. I remember that view."

"I don't care."

Naruto could prattle on for hours if he wanted; Sasuke wasn't listening. The entire village had been flattened and rebuilt; that he recognised the view from his window – in a village he had lived in all his life- was nothing remarkable.

For a remarkably clever person, Sasuke was very good at missing the signs people threw at him; first with Itachi, then with Madara.

Later he would realise he should have looked at the names on the apartment listings.

* * *

_A/n: Ohmygod I have not had so much trouble with a chapter for this story in...well, the whole story I don't think. URK. Seriously. Writing this was like trying to squeeze blood out of a stone. _

_WHY IS THE MANGA DETAILING THE PAST OF A AND KILLER B? I _don't care _about them at all! I want awesome Sakura back. I want all the flashbacks in the latest anime episodes to STOP. I want Naruto and Sasuke to have their final epic showdown already! _

_ANYWAY. _

_1. What is Tsunade up to? Can anyone guess? _

_2. Serious loving for the Sakura/Kakashi student-teacher bond. CANNOT RESIST. _

_3. Who lives in the same apartment building as Sasuke-kun? _

_4. IS THE SASUSAKU stuff ever going to happen? _

_The last 60% of this is totally shit. Seriously, I know. But it is 1 in the morning and I can't be bothered to go back and forth deleting and rewriting anymore. I think I may have to do a slight time-skip at some point. Like, maybe by six weeks or so? Otherwise you're going to get a lot of everyone moving back to konoha and all that boring stuff that is really uninspiring to write. _

_On a sidenote - today I made what is probably the world's most alcoholic lasagne. Kudos to me. _

_REVIEW. _


	13. Chapter Thirteen

"You look like hell."

Sometimes Sakura forgot how very blunt her mentor was. It was refreshing sometimes – particularly in her younger years, when she was so used to stifling her real thoughts and feelings – but Tsunade already had a sharp tongue. When she was dead on her feet, soaked to the skin and still recovering from a near-death coma, she rather thought a little tact would be nice.

"Kakashi looks like hell too," she grumbled, dripping water on the floor of Tsunade's office. "You just can't tell when he has that stupid mask on."

Kakashi sent her a baleful look, though how he managed to convey these expressions when the only thing you could see of his face was a lone, dark eye was still beyond her. She wondered if he practised in front of a mirror.

"That wasn't very kind of you Sakura-chan," he began, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of chair legs scraping across the floor as Tsunade got to her feet and seized Sakura by the shoulders.

"You!" She growled, embracing her tightly. "You practically gave me a heart attack, you know that?"

Tentatively, she hugged the blonde woman back, hearing the deafening roar of the rain outside pick up. The sky was dark beyond the windows and Sakura allowed herself this small moment to be comforted and to give comfort in return.

"Blood everywhere, pale as a ghost and then in a coma for three days-" Tsunade pulled back for a moment and scrutinised her with narrowed amber eyes. "You did well, Sakura."

That was not what she was expecting.

"What?"

The Hokage gestured for them to sit and she obeyed in a daze, barely aware of her sensei taking a seat to her left. After all she had been through- all the blood and pain and eternities stuck in the Tsukuyomi…Tsunade was the first to acknowledge what it had been in aid of.

The blonde woman's gaze was unflinching. "I am proud of you," she said, sitting behind the desk of the Hokage. "What you did, eliminating Kabuto, ending the Edo Tensei, holding off Madara...I don't think anyone could expect any more of you."

Perhaps it was the exhaustion setting in, but her eyes began that familiar burn that preceded tears. There was a strange weightlessness in her chest, as though some burden she had not known she was carrying had just been relieved from her shoulders.

"Shishou…" For some reason she could not find the words to convey how very grateful she was for Tsunade's acknowledgement, how much it had always meant to her that such a magnificent, talented, powerful woman seemed to see something in her that was worthwhile.

The Hokage smiled as if she knew all this and turned to the silent man at Sakura's side. "Kakashi?"

"I have enlightened Sakura as to the circumstances of Sasuke's return to the Village, Hokage-sama."

The smile became markedly grimmer. "Of course. Then I imagine you are curious as to why I have summoned you home."

Fingernails tapping irritably at the worn, wooden surface of the desk before her, it was clear Tsunade was not thrilled about the turn of events that had transpired. Or perhaps she just really didn't like Sasuke and the mention of his name alone had endeavoured to irritate her. Knowing her Shishou as she did, Sakura supposed it was more than likely.

"I cannot have a council orchestrating the murder of its own citizens where diplomacy is still a viable course of action – not while I am Hokage! But neither can I have them…eliminated. You understand I'm sure."

"More deals in the dark," Sakura murmured, feeling cold rain water trickle down the back of her neck from the ends of her wet hair. "It's not good for stability."

She thought again of Uchiha Itachi's passive expression and added, "They need to be punished for what they did. By law."

Where despair had threatened to swallow her whole, anger had reared its persistent head and smothered all other thought away. It frightened her a little. It was a patient, simmering, _bone deep _fury that lived quietly inside her now – the kind of rage that could wait years to be appeased.

Her teachers both looked at her in surprise hearing something in her voice that had not been there before, but chose not to comment.

"That is the general idea," Tsunade replied dryly. "I'm gathering evidence tying the Uchiha massacre to Konoha's elders so that I can put them on trial. But there are complications of course. This is going to be a very turbulent time for Konoha."

Sakura had an idea of what those complications entailed. The moment the Elders got wind of what was going down in Tsunade's administration, they would be sure to do anything they could to cover their tracks. They had already ordered the murder of an entire clan. Who else would they willingly silence to keep the truth from coming out?

_They will kill Sasuke, _she thought before she could stop herself, feeling a sudden and unwanted spasm somewhere beneath her ribcage. Logically she knew he was more than capable of dealing with any untoward assassins the Elders might send his way, but the very idea made her feel chilled in a way that had nothing to do with her drenched clothing.

More upsetting (if that was possible) than the fact that she resolutely did _not _want to feel that way, was the knowledge that as of two months ago she had lost the right to feel that way in the first place.

Squashing this awareness down, Sakura asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Tsunade's smile widened. Over her intertwined fingers she looked at her with such confidence in her eyes that she almost had to look away.

"I want you to lead my investigation into the Council of Elders."

There was a strange beat of silence. "Me?" She repeated incredulously. "You want _me _to do this?"

Sakura half expected Kakashi to voice his agreement, to suggest that she was too young and inexperienced to handle such a task, but he said nothing. Instead there was a pensive air of consideration around him.

"Why not?" Tsunade asked. "I'm a very busy woman, Sakura. I need someone clever and resourceful to handle things on my behalf while I'm occupied with getting the village back on its feet. I need someone I trust to run this investigation. You've been my apprentice for three years now- you know the politics, you know the system. Who better to do this than you?"

She remembered her earlier vow; _I don't want to be a part of this. _But what was 'this'?

A Konoha where its elders sacrificed its children for 'the greater good' was not one she wanted to be a part of. Wasn't this the chance to change all that? A chance to break the cycle of hatred that had lived in the heart of the village for generations and ruined the lives of the boys she loved the most.

She had fought a war for Naruto and all his dreams of a better future but this-

Maybe this was the one thing she could do that would bring that future a little closer; the most significant thing she would ever be able to do for the world, even if it would never be known.

Maybe this was the one thing she could do for Sasuke that would ever mean anything.

"Okay," Sakura found herself agreeing. "I'll do it."

* * *

As the door closed behind her pink haired apprentice, Tsunade leaned back in her chair with her face titled towards the ceiling. A strip of pale moonlight fell across the desk.

"That girl," she sighed, rubbing at her eyes absently. "One day she needs to stop undervaluing herself."

Opposite her, Kakashi straightened in his chair. She sometimes wondered if he felt regret for the way that Sakura had developed in her abilities; until a few weeks ago, he had never really taught her anything other than the value of teamwork. It was understandable, she supposed. Sasuke was a boy who had always been in dire need of guidance and Naruto was enough to keep anyone's attention occupied. Still, Tsunade had never missed the signs that his apparent favouritism, though unintentional, had bothered her. It had always been clear in Sakura's downcast eyes and hunched shoulders.

"About that," he said, tone suddenly serious. "I know that I never had much of a hand in her training before now, but I'd like to continue teaching Sakura."

Tsunade surveyed him with a pleased eye. "Her apprenticeship is drawing to a close," she admitted. "There isn't a lot left that I can teach her myself."

He nodded. "Sakura's chakra control is probably the best I have ever seen. She has remarkable potential – potential I did nothing about in most of the time I have known her."

"If you are doing this out of guilt, Kakashi, don't bother."

As they stared at each other across the dark room, a low rumble of thunder echoed in the distance.

"I regret the neglect she suffered," he answered after a long moment. "But it is not the reason I wish to continue training her."

"Good."

There was another short pause, almost as though he was hesitant to say what came next.

"She has shown tremendous growth recently – her decision making and strategy are on par with a jounin's, but with everything that has happened I fear she is also a train crash waiting to happen."

She felt a frown pulling down the corners of her mouth. "What exactly happened in the Land of Iron?"

Kakashi shook his head, water flinging out from his hair at every angle. _He's like those damn dogs of his,_ she thought, raising a hand to wipe the water from her face. He put his hands up sheepishly.

"You'll have to ask her," he said. "But you are perceptive as always, Hokage-sama."

She gave him a sardonic look. "Don't be such a suck up," she muttered out the corner of her mouth, her eyes itching with tiredness. "It doesn't suit you."

Despite the mask, Tsunade could sense his wry smile as he stood to take leave of the room.

"When the time comes," he said, coming to a stop by the window, his figure illuminated by moonlight and the shadows of falling rain. "When the village is ready for its next round, I'd like to recommend Sakura for promotion to Jounin." _That's why I want to continue her training, _went unsaid in the space between them.

It wouldn't be for a while yet, she thought grumpily. Not with all the havoc the Uchiha and the war had caused. But she could not deny that she herself would have put Sakura's name in for consideration- it pleased her that Kakashi had beaten her to it.

"Done," she replied promptly, as the copy-nin disappeared through the window too fast for her eyes to follow.

* * *

Surprisingly it wasn't the quietening rainfall that woke him. Naruto, sprawled across his bed with his mouth open was lost in a very pleasant dream involving ramen, Hinata and a bath house when he was rudely awoken by an orange and blonde blur.

"Hey!" His clone yelled at him, "Wake up! Sakura-chan's back!"

"Huh?" He rather thought there was a bit of drool on his chin, but paid it no mind. His brain, never at its best first thing in the morning was slow to respond; what was his clone trying to tell him? Why was it so important that he see Sakura?

Immediately the clone poofed out of existence and its memories came rushing into Naruto's head as though a pile of bricks had just been dropped unceremoniously on it. He bolted upright in bed and scrambled for the nearest pile of clothes.

"Crap!" He stubbed his toe pulling his pants on and almost fell over an empty ramen cup. "That was a close one!"

It was only once he'd made the mad dash across the village's rooftops that he realised where he was going and stopped abruptly, unsure whether or not this was something to laugh at or not. Fate? Or was old lady Tsunade much sneakier than she would have everyone believe?

_I knew I recognised that view, _he thought, running up the side of the building to enter through the window. _Sakura lives in the apartment directly above Sasuke's. _

Inside he noticed there was a slight stale quality to the air that indicated the apartment had been uninhabited for a while. It was also startlingly empty; there were no pictures on the walls, no furniture in the living room. A katana lay propped against the far wall by the window, the bedraggled red ribbon tied to the handle the only flash of colour amid the white walls and dull, wooden floor.

"Sakura-chan?"

There was no answer. The only sound in the apartment was of his quiet footsteps crossing the room to the bedroom, where she had left the door slightly ajar.

"Sakura?"

She was curled up on a futon in the darkest corner of the room, clearly having fallen asleep in her clothes. He bent down and gently shook her shoulder, mindful that it was probably still mending.

It was then that he noticed the fine trembling of her body under his palm and the restless expression of someone who was not having good dreams.

"Hey – wake up."

As he moved his hand to prod her side her eyes snapped open, wild and afraid. She caught his wrist and twisted viciously. He felt a bone snap beneath her fingers.  
"OW!"

Sakura blinked as though he was only just coming into focus, her breathing harsh and uneven.

"….Naruto?" Catching the pained look on his face, her eyes darted to the wrist she had ensnared in her unforgiving fist. Whatever colour she had in her face drained out of it.

"Oh god," immediately green chakra worked its way through her fingers, repairing the break she'd caused only seconds ago. "Naruto – I'm so sorry."

"Meh," he shrugged, trying to hide his worry behind a blasé attitude. "It's just a break right? No harm done! It'll take more than that to take _me _out!"

She sat up, still pale. "What are you doing here?"

Their last meeting was still vivid in his mind; it made him feel as though there was a sharp piece of glass stuck in his throat around which it was difficult to speak. But he had to. Naruto wasn't sure when it had happened – if it was one secret too many or a combination of grievances that had caused it- but something had broken between them. Between all of them.

Even when Sasuke was gone, the three of them – he, Sakura and Kakashi- had been united in their goal of bringing him back. There might have been a Sasuke-shaped hole in their lives, but what had been the alternative? To give up? To move on and pretend that the dark haired boy they loved so much had never been a part of them?

The point, he supposed, was that even if a small piece of themselves was lost, the foundation remained unchanged. They were still Team 7. At least they had been – now it felt like they were all splintering apart in different directions even as they were reunited.

"I had to talk to you," he answered. "I had to see you – to explain."

"Kakashi already did."

His eyes pleaded with her to come back to him. "Then you understand, right? Please tell me you understand."

She let out a humourless laugh. "Yeah. I understand."

"So you didn't mean it right? What you said about being done with us?"

Sakura was silent for a long moment, her green eyes lowered to the ground. He watched the dull early morning light from the window hit her face and thought that Hinata had been right. Something had changed in Sakura and he couldn't honestly say he thought it was for the better.

"I'm not saying I don't resent it," she admitted quietly. "But it's not all about me, is it? The truth is bigger than that. Bigger than us."

It wasn't exactly the answer he wanted to hear. He wanted her to be the Sakura he knew; the girl who didn't hold a grudge or give up on her dreams. Where was the Sakura who would stay by Sasuke's side, feeling nothing but joy that he was finally home?

"Are you ever going to forgive him, Sakura-chan?" He asked instead.

Her impassive expression wavered. "I – I hope so," she murmured. "But I can't ever forget, Naruto."

He took her hand as it made its way to her neck – an unconscious action on her part.

"He's still Sasuke," he told her earnestly. "He always was! And he's back and he cares about us, so why can't everything go back to the way it was?"

Sakura took her hand back to wrap her arms around her knees. Her hair was getting long again, he noticed. It was already past her shoulders.

"I tried to kill him. It doesn't matter that I couldn't do it in the end. I still tried."

Naruto remembered that cold, strange day when the snow lay thick and heavy upon the ground and Sakura stood in front of him with remote green eyes. Even then, he had seen that something was wrong.

"Why?" he asked now, feeling the coolness of the floor seeping through his clothes. "Why did you do it Sakura? Why did you give up on him?"

_You chose the worst possible time, _he thought, _when Sasuke's madness was at its deepest. What made you lose faith in him before that meeting? What happened that made you turn your back?_

Her lip was torn where she had been biting it, but her eyes were dry even if they were miserable.

"Because three and a half years ago I made you make a promise to bring Sasuke back to Konoha," she said, her voice cracking. "And I knew that only death would stop you from trying to keep it. Your death or his."

_Your death or his. _

Naruto rocked back on his heels, her words leaving him reeling. "Sakura…"

He heard what she had not said, the words that were left unspoken. She loved Sasuke. She would probably always love Sasuke, but for the first time she had tried to lay that love aside.

_It was you or him, _was what she really meant – and he hugged her so tightly, tears in his eyes. He felt her shaking in his arms, whether a left over effect of her dreams or suppressed sobs, he wasn't sure.

Faced with a choice, he realised, she had chosen him over Sasuke. Clinging to each other in the darkened room, Naruto thought about how this was one of several moments he had dreamed of as a child and it was nothing like he had imagined. He had never known before that coming first in someone's heart could hurt.

* * *

The patter of rain against the windows was a sound that quietly soothed him.

Being in Konoha after being gone for so long was an adjustment that Sasuke found…difficult to say the least. Watching the shadows cast by the falling rain outside splay across the ceiling, he found it easier to imagine he was somewhere- anywhere- else. In the strangest of ways, he found Konoha both was and wasn't home. He was haunted by whispers of memory and the absence of their physical representatives; every minute of every day he had been back, Sasuke had been reminded of the Uchiha district and all that it meant. He would see it in his minds eye, but he could not go back. He would never walk those still, silent halls again, never sit in his mother's kitchen and recall the sound of her soft singing. The very thing that made him who he was no longer had a physical anchor in the world.

_Sleep, _he thought half-heartedly, even as he kept his eyes open. For many months now sleep had been a reluctant visitor. His bones ached with such weariness that sometimes, in the moments when he was left alone, he felt like he had aged a hundred years. And on this dark, early morning, confined between thin white walls while the streets outside were paved with rain water, Sasuke craved the blank oblivion of a dreamless sleep.

He must have drifted off at some point because when he woke, it was to a lightened room. The rain had finally stopped, but he sensed that wasn't what had woken him.

In the living room he discovered a paper bag propped on the windowsill, full of ripe, round tomatoes. There was no note, but he caught the faintest of scents on the air by the window- light and feminine.

And though he was determined not to read into the gesture, not to see something where there was nothing – even as he bit into the first, perfect red fruit, he knew that there were only two people in the entire world who knew him well enough to give him tomatoes.

He also knew there was only one who would bother.

* * *

_A/n: YES. I have finally written a version of this chapter that I like! Truthfully, this is like, the sixth attempt. Bleh. _

_1. I totally view it as Sakura choosing Naruto over Sasuke. Choosing EVERYONE over Sasuke, or trying to. I mean come on. Her entire village just got pulverised by Akatsuki and then the boy she loves joins up. And she knows her friend the jinchuriki (is that even how you spell it?) is still chasing after said boy. That promise between them is kind of a recipe for his early grave -and everyone else for that matter, if aforementioned crimminal organisation gets the 9-tails. Poor Sakura. _

_2. The SasuSaku starts :) It may be starting small, but THE POINT IS IT IS STARTING. _

_3. GOD. Reading the manga and WHERE IS THE SAUCE? It's been like a year since he was last in it and I'm only reading it for his epic redemption! FFS! SO IMPATIENT. _

_4. Is anyone else addicted to the current Shippuden Opening? It's titled 'Lovers' and I cannot stop listening to it. Seriously. The replay button is being raped so badly. It's Sasuke's manic grin behind his hand. Gives me chills. _

_Yeah. Epic dork. Totally sunburnt. I KNOW. _

_If you review, I will send you a cupcake :)_


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Impatience was a churning fire in his veins.

Sasuke clenched his fists and turned back to the window seeing nothing but the black anger of his eyes reflected in the glass.

Six weeks. It had been six, agonisingly long weeks and yet nothing had been done. Nothing had changed. The Hokage who had promised him justice had done nothing except keep him cooped up like a bird in a cage, a prisoner to her will. His clan was still a bloodstain on the ground and Itachi was still a monster in the eyes of the village he had sacrificed everything for.

_Liar, _he thought, picturing the serious look the woman had given him. _Liar, liar, liar!_

Not for the first time, his eyes strayed towards his katana were it lay propped against the wall. It would be so easy to just flit across the rooftops and slit the Elders good-for-nothing throats. No one could stop him. No one except himself.

The sky was dark outside, the stars shining brightly down. All the world was settling down for sleep.

She hadn't come back yet.

When Naruto had first informed him that Sakura lived in the apartment above his own, Sasuke hadn't known what to think. As it was, he never saw her save for a flash of pink past his window as she came and went – at increasingly ridiculous hours. That blur of her obnoxious hair speeding past his apartment was the only thing that relieved the monotonous boredom of being stuck inside his apartment. Well, that and Naruto's visits.

His scowl deepened, the fight he'd had with the blonde a few hours previously still fresh in his mind.

"_Tsunade baa-chan is doing everything she can!" _

_The mask of composure Sasuke had been wearing for weeks had already began to crack. The full force of his rage came to the surface now, no longer appeased by the blonde's empty words and reassurances. His fingers itched with the sparks of a chidori. _

"_It's not enough!" He shouted, rounding on his so-called best friend with a snarl. "You promised me _justice _Naruto – but where is it? While you and your pathetic village meander around in your happy little lives, my clan's sacrifice still goes unacknowledged!"_

"_I know!" Naruto's eyes were serious. "I know it's not going fast enough, Sasuke, but these things take time-"_

_A furious scream had slipped between his teeth as he lunged at the blonde, feeling the persuasive whisper of hatred slipping back into the threat of his thoughts. _Kill them all, _it had said, _kill them all and be done with it.

_Even as the chidori flared to life in his palm, Naruto had made no move to defend himself. He stayed in place, arms at his side – and Sasuke couldn't do it. The crackling electricity demolished the wall between the living room and his bedroom instead and as the dust settled he found himself unable to look the other boy in the eye. _

"_Leave," he had choked, a hand coming up to cover his eyes as he stomped the hatred back down. "Now."_

_And silently, Naruto had obeyed. _

Now Sasuke was alone in the silence of his apartment, fighting the bitterness that was threatening to overwhelm him. He was doing this for the clan; he wanted justice, not revenge. This was what he told himself over and over.

"I see you're as impatient and fool hardy as ever."

He was glad the silver haired man couldn't see his face – and the spasm of anger in his eye that his words had caused.

"Go away, Kakashi," he growled, thrusting his hands into his pockets, eyes resolutely fixated on the window. He hadn't seen his former sensei since he and Naruto had left the alliance base all those weeks ago; whatever his reason for dropping by now was, he didn't care.

"Naruto mentioned you were getting a bit restless," Kakashi said in his familiar drawl. "I thought I'd come and talk some sense into you before you do something foolish."

Sasuke gritted his teeth but didn't bother answering. Beneath his simmering resentment of the situation, he was acutely aware that the last time they had had a real conversation a lot of things had been said that he could not take back. His death threats, the derogatory way he addressed him for his possession of the sharingan – all of those poisonous words seemed to hang in the air, unacknowledged but present in the forefront of both their minds.

"Let me ask you something, Sasuke," his old mentor continued. "Did it never occur to you just how precarious your position is at this very moment? How much danger you have been in ever since you set foot in this village?"

Sasuke felt a sneer settle on his face as he half turned to survey the man stood in the centre of his half-wrecked apartment. "Tsunade isn't going to execute me-"

"I'm not talking about the Hokage," Kakashi snapped, his temper uncharacteristically short. "I was referring to the Elders."

Just the mention of the remaining people who had sentenced his clan to death- who had, effectively, ruined both his and his brother's lives- was enough to bring a snarl of anger out between his teeth.

"Things are very tense in the palace right now. The Elders are furious that Tsunade has already sentenced you before they could interfere. Legally, they cannot touch you and its making them very nervous."

"Good." Sasuke could feel the sinister smirk crossing his face, but he didn't care to censor it. Anything that caused them even a little distress was alright with him. Kakashi looked like he wanted to smack him about the head as he used to do to Naruto when they were genin together.

"Use your brain, Sasuke," he said. "Homura and Koharu ordered the massacre of your entire clan in cold blood. Do you think they would hesitate to get rid of you if they got wind that the truth was about to come out?"

That silenced him for a moment. "They could try."

"And you would butcher everyone they sent after you – a fine way to begin restoring the name of the Uchiha clan, wouldn't you agree?"

There was a long, ugly pause before Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his silver hair looking suddenly very tired. The anger seemed to drain out of him as he moved to slouch languidly against the wall.

"Look," he began. "I can appreciate how difficult it must be for you to put your trust in the village after being betrayed so badly by it. But you have to know that Tsunade is very much on your side. Even as I speak her team of investigators is working around the clock, assembling evidence of the council's corruption so that Tsunade can take them to trial. We only get one shot at this and it has to be done right. We can't afford mistakes."

Sasuke was silent. It still seemed to him that a lot of time had been wasted tiptoeing around the council, when all he wanted was to see them pay for their crimes. As if he could see this in his expression, his visitor sighed.

"I would love for us to be able to deal with council right off the bat," he continued quietly. "But as much as we intend to do right by your clan, I must admit our priority has been leaning more towards ensuring your safety. A lot of people have made sacrifices over the years to keep you alive and we would like you to stay that way."

Sasuke bristled, too angry to play nice. "You mean Konoha doesn't want to lose the sharingan."

"I mean that not only have Naruto and Sakura spent the last three and a half years devoted to getting you back, but your brother sentenced himself to a life of pain as an outcast, a criminal and a murderer of kin in order to save your life. After everything he was made to sacrifice, do you really think we are going to let you get yourself killed because you didn't have the patience to wait for the opportune moment?"

He thought involuntarily of his brother's face in the moonlight, the tears that had glistening in his eyes as he turned to flee into the night. All those years he had spent pretending to be a psychopathic killer, making Sasuke hate him even as he tried to protect him – Itachi must have suffered so much…

He blinked rapidly and turned away, swallowing around the painful lump in his throat.

"Patience," Kakashi murmured behind him. "She is almost ready."

By 'she', Sasuke assumed he was referring to the blonde, voluptuous Hokage that seemed to dislike him.

"Whatever," he muttered, turning away abruptly.

"Does this mean you'll try to contain your tantrums for the time being? Naruto and Sakura are under enough stress without having to worry about the whether you're going to suddenly snap and take a blade to the elder's throats."

He regretted taking out his frustrations on Naruto, that much he could admit to himself. If it hadn't been for the blonde's unwavering faith in him, his unshakable persistence…there was a good possibility he would have stayed in the dark place where everything he'd ever loved was sucked in and spat back out as another reason to hate the world and watch it burn. But Sakura…as far as she was concerned he could not say the same. Only months ago she had sought him out with the express purpose of killing him. He could not forget the spiteful words that had flown from her mouth in the middle of the night, or that she had made no move to visit him as Naruto had, despite living in the apartment just above his own. True, there had been the tomatoes on his windowsill, but he was beginning to think it must have been Naruto who left them after all.

"Don't try and guilt me into being docile for their sake," was his reply. "Team 7 doesn't exist anymore."

To his irritation, it appeared his old sensei heard the words Sasuke would not say – but then he always had been adept at looking underneath the underneath. His eye lowered to the floor and under different circumstances – if Sasuke was still his prized student and had never abandoned Konoha, never tried to kill his best friend and old team mates – he thought Kakashi would have ruffled his hair as he used to. Instead he parted from the wall, hands shoved in his pockets and looked at him with nothing but almost unbearable sadness.

"Team 7 will never leave you, Sasuke," he said. "They still care – they _both _do."

His chest felt tight, but he refused to give Kakashi the satisfaction of knowing his words affected him; that any of them had any impact on his happiness at all.

"If you want proof, ask yourself this; why did the Hokage place you in the same apartment complex as one of your former team mates?"

"I assumed she had a nasty sense of humour," he muttered, staring out the window. Behind him, he could sense that Kakashi was getting ready to leave.

"Maybe," the older man said, "But I would be more inclined to think it's because she knew as long as Sakura was around, none of the Council's underlings would get within a hundred feet of you."

He couldn't quiet hold back the derisive snort. _I'm sure, _he thought, recalling the long hours she spent anywhere but her apartment. Kakashi eyed him pityingly.

"You really haven't noticed yet, have you?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow scathingly. "Noticed what?"

"Genjutsu. She cast it on this entire floor." Though he couldn't see his face, he had the sense that his old sensei was almost smiling. "It was an unfortunate chain of events that forced Sakura into making some bad decisions, Sasuke, but don't make the mistake of thinking what happened in the Land of Iron means she stopped caring – no matter how much she might pretend otherwise."

* * *

"Here."

The soft thud of a coffee cup being placed on the desk by her head jolted her awake. Blinking hard, Sakura raised her head to see Ino standing over her, her expression one of gentle concern.

"How long was I asleep?"

"I don't know," she replied sitting down with a shrug. "An hour maybe? You were like it when I came back."

Sakura let out a stream of very unladylike curses then, expressing both her frustration at falling asleep and displeasure at the aches making themselves known from lying in such an uncomfortable position. Her oldest friend ignored her, propping her feet up on a vacant chair and took a delicate sip from her own mug.

"You're pushing yourself too hard, Forehead. When was the last time you got a decent night's sleep?"

The coffee was black and scalding, just the way she liked it. Bitter. "Oh, I don't know." About six months ago. "Anyway, you can't exactly talk. I don't remember you going home before eleven since I got you in on this."

The last six weeks had been a blur of long days and sleepless nights. After Tsunade had asked her to handle the investigation, she'd given a lot of thought to who she would need carrying it out. Sai had been an obvious choice for his knowledge of Root and Ino she had chosen because she was the perfect spy; with her mind-body swap jutsu she could get into all sorts of places that were off limits and no one would ever know.

Shikamaru had been considered for his brilliant mind, but Sakura had been willing to do without him in order to keep the operation under the radar. As it was he'd shown up on the third day with a look of long suffering martyrdom, having been pointed in their direction by Shikaku. Together they had been doing their utmost to uncover the Council's crimes – not just the Uchiha massacre but everything they had ever done behind the village's back. Evidence of other crimes and dirty dealings could only bring credibility to their case.

"Yeah well," Ino made a face, blowing on her coffee. "I feel kind of…compelled, you know? I know Sasuke was your team mate, but after everything he's been through – I mean he deserves this much at least. And besides…"

Sakura frowned, curious. The two of them had never really talked about Sasuke, not really. After that fateful Chunnin exam where they were pitted against each other, something had started to mend between them and neither had wanted to jeopardise that by bringing up the dark haired boy they had both been crushing on. Looking back on it though, she had to admit that the rivalry she had so carelessly constructed between them had been more about her own fledgling sense of independence and identity than it had been about him.

"Do you still-" she hesitated. It wasn't important. "What were you going to say?"

Her blonde friend smiled. "Just that I didn't want you to pull these all-nighter's alone. This is important; we all understand that. And I think…I mean deep down, I think everyone will be relieved to know that he had a reason to go off the deep end when he did."

"You cried like a baby," Sakura recalled, cradling the hot cup in her hands. She had no idea what time it was. The centre of their operations was in a room that had no windows, being far off the beaten track.

"None of us wanted that," she said haltingly. "Even as part of the Akatsuki – he grew up here, didn't he? He went to the Academy with us, fought alongside us, lived among us. He was part of Rookie 9 once. He was one of us."

Yes, he was. Even before he became so central to her life, Sasuke had been a part of the Konoha she had always known. It was where he belonged, the place he was always supposed to be.

Even as she had known that, Sakura had allowed herself to be swept up by the tide that insisted the boy she loved was too dangerous to live. Her home had lain in ruins and her mother had been dead and she had tried to choose between Sasuke and all the other people she loved.

_Hypocrite, _she thought now. As a thirteen year old she had professed to love him and in trying to do the right thing, she had only ever managed to betray that love.

Something of her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Ino lowered her half-empty cup to the desk, her expression gentle.

"Hey- are you okay?"

Sakura bit her lip for a long moment, the weight in her chest suddenly unbearable. She knew, logically, that she was not okay. All her dreams took her back to her time in the Tsukuyomi, so that sometimes she had difficulty in discerning exactly what was real. She no longer felt comfortable wearing red.

And in the darkest, loneliest hours of the night, her heart bled for a broken boy confined to the flat below her own. He was _so _close. He was so close and yet, somehow he had never seemed further away.

"Yeah," she said, reaching for the smile that could fool the world. "Just a little tired I guess."

"Me too. I can't wait until this mess is over and I can get a good night's sleep."

They both yawned at exactly the same moment and despite herself, Sakura couldn't stop the grin that flickered across her face. She reached for the scroll she had been reading before she fell asleep.

"Your wrinkles are beginning to show, Pig."

Ino stuck her tongue out childishly. "At least I'm not falling asleep with my eyes open like Shikamaru."

The mental image this prompted was enough to make her snort alarmingly. "What?"

"Yeah. Yesterday we went out for barbeque with Chouji and he fell asleep in the booth with his eyes open. I think the strain of being productive for once is beginning to show."

Sakura shook her head, laughing now. "When I was sparring with Naruto on Tuesday, Hinata happened to walk past. He went bright red and threw his kunai the wrong way round."

The slowly blossoming relationship between her blonde team mate and her shy friend was beautiful to watch. Hinata's feelings for Naruto was one of the worst kept secrets in Konoha – meaning for years absolutely _everyone _except Naruto had been aware of them. Sakura and Ino, both romantic's at heart, had despaired at his obliviousness, but somehow managed to refrain from interfering.

"Smooth." Ino's grin was wide. "He likes her."

Sakura thought of the way his face went completely red whenever they ran into Hinata unexpectedly- the way he suddenly reverted back into a clumsy, clueless twelve year old boy. It was absolutely adorable.

"Yeah- I think he really does."

The other girl slammed her hand down on the surface of the desk, strangely triumphant. "Finally! If I had known all it took for Hinata to confess was a flattened village, a crazy s-class criminal and the love her life in mortal danger, I would have arranged it years ago!"

Sakura snorted again and went back to the paperwork she had been sorting through. "You're impossible."

"You're just jealous you didn't think of it first."

Sakura ignored her, rubbing her temples to ease the throbbing in her head that demanded sleep.

Words swam before her eyes, rendered meaningless by the exhaustion creeping back in.

_Soon, _she thought to herself, blinking rapidly to keep her eyelids from drooping. _Soon this will be enough. _

Opposite her, Ino started to sift through a large stack of mission reports dating back ten years ago. She too, looked exhausted – but Sakura was grateful.

"We should go out for karaoke again soon," her best friend said, "We haven't done that for ages."

It had been something of a monthly thing in those long years when Naruto was gone and Kakashi was absent and Sasuke – Sasuke was lost. A little break between training – all Ino's idea of course.

Sometimes she had succeeded in dragging Shikamaru along too, or Sakura would bring a blushing Hinata, but mostly it had just been them blowing off steam together, being normal teenage girls for a little while. She craved that sense of normalcy now; the sense of ease that came with the familiar.

"I'd like that," Sakura smiled recalling late nights and laughter and belting out raucous songs at the top of her voice.

Ino smiled too, but hers was infinitely more mischievous. "That's right," she sang. "It'll be you, me, the girls and a _lot_ of alcohol."

As a medic, most would probably expect her to protest. But Sakura was Tsunade's student through and through – and if she was old enough to go to war, she was old enough to get drunk.

"Sounds like a plan," she said.

* * *

He felt like it would be possible to fry an egg on his face.

As he waited for his second bowl of ramen to magically appear before him, Naruto surreptitiously snuck a look at the girl next to him out the corner of his eye – only to find that she too, was doing exactly the same thing. Hinata froze at the exact same moment, both of their eyes widening, before they hastily looked away from each other, their faces matching shades of red.

_This is so not cool, _Naruto bemoaned in his head, feeling his cheeks burn. It was true. He was the village hero; the son of the Fourth Hokage and the boy who defeated Uchiha Madara. He was not supposed to be blushing because there was a pretty girl next to him damnit! Hadn't he spent three years travelling with Jiraiya, the most perverted man in the whole of Konohagakure? He had read the books, spied on women in the bathouses – even caught a glimpse of Sakura coming out the shower once (not that he'd ever tell her that, of course). He was the creator of the sexy-no-jutsu, wasn't he?

And yet, to his dismay Naruto was finding that the more time he spent with Hinata, the more flustered he became in her presence.

Limp fingers fumbled on his chopsticks. Hinata coughed self-consciously as Ayame plonked down two steaming bowls in front of them, an amused smile curling around her mouth. It did not help his state of mind at all.

"Um," Hinata spoke up, making a brave stab at conversation. "I- I haven't seen Sakura for a while now, N-Naruto-kun. How is she?"

Naruto-kun.

_Naruto-kun. _She sounded so sweet when she said his name like that, with the shyly affectionate suffix attached at the end. Every time she said it, his insides felt a little bit warmer.

"Yeah," Naruto desperately scrambled for some kind of calm. His palms were sweating; his heartbeat fluttered anxiously in his ears. "She's doing some top secret work for Tsunade baa-chan, y'know?"

It was actually really irritating. He was used to having Sakura's company and attention whenever he wanted it, but for weeks now she had been disappearing off the face of the earth at the oddest hours. Still, he wasn't a completely stupid; he had a vague idea of what exactly Tsunade had gotten her involved in and kept his complaints to a minimum.

"Oh," she replied softly, seeming to hesitate for a moment. "How is Sasuke?"

Naruto barely repressed a sigh. Sasuke, he thought, was a mess. Less of a mess than he had been, admittedly, but still a mess all the same. Though he dutifully struggled through Sakura's genjutsu for twenty minutes every day in order to keep him company, it wasn't hard to see that the house arrest Tsunade had placed him under was taking its toll. The last six weeks had sped by for Naruto, absorbed as he was in the rebuilding process and helping the village regain its feet. There were meetings too, that Tsunade made him sit in on and sparring sessions with Kakashi and making sure Sakura didn't run herself into the ground with everything she was trying to do.

But for Sasuke there was just day after day of staring at the same white walls. And Naruto was terrified that the delay between promises and action would only serve to convince the boy he had spent so long chasing that coming back to Konoha had been a mistake.

"He's struggling," the blonde said finally, wondering if Hinata could see the fear and doubt in his eyes. "It's – I'm kind of scared that he'll leave again."

In all his daydreams of the future, he had never imagined that having Sasuke back would feel like walking on ice; always watching for cracks beginning to splinter beneath his feet and that inevitable moment when the world would fall apart around him.

Hinata was silent for a moment and when he looked at her, her pale eyes were thoughtful. "Then we should give him a reason to stay," she replied gently, chopsticks poised over her bowl of ramen. "Even if it's only one person at a time – maybe he needs to know that he still belongs here?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, feeling the beginnings of a true smile on his face, tentative, but hopeful. How did she always manage to make him feel better? "I think you're right."

* * *

The morning light slanted through the window and stabbed her in the eyeballs, but the sight of the sunrise illuminating the Hokage's office was one of intimate familiarity. The sun always hit the Hokage Palace before it hit anywhere else in Konoha and Sakura had spent many early mornings in this office. She closed the door carefully behind her and silently crossed the room to stand before the desk of her mentor, the smallest of smiles on her lips. It wasn't the first time she was seeing Tsunade like this; mouth open, blonde hair dishevelled and a small spot of drool on the wooden desk top. It was however, the first time the scene was missing the tell tale empty sake bottle lying on its side.

"Shishou," Sakura softly called her, reluctant to wake her so soon. Tsunade was getting tired she knew; she could see it in the lines of her face, the pallor of her skin and the slow thinness that her body was taking on. To anyone else save Shizune, it would probably go unnoticed. And Sakura knew then that the weight of being Hokage was one that she herself would never be able to bear.

"Shishou," she called again and this time Tsunade stirred. She wondered if she was getting old before her time, feeling these things and regarding the woman before her with such fondness.

"S…kura." An irate amber eye opened to glare at her. Tsunade was never very gracious in the mornings. Much like herself, she sometimes thought. Her mother on the other hand, was an obnoxiously cheerful early riser, something Sakura had never been able to understand. She sometimes wondered how they could possibly be related, when they had absolutely nothing in common.

"_You were never supposed to be a ninja," _her mother had screamed the last time they came face to face, two weeks ago. _"Not a proper ninja – not a _real _one!_"

Her mother resented Tsunade – possibly resented everyone in Sakura's life- but mostly the woman blearily sitting up before her now, because it had been Tsunade who had made a 'real' ninja out of her wasn't it? For this, among a hundred other small things – for dango after every training session, for teaching her how to play poker, for the confidence in her voice whenever she spoke of her – Sakura loved Tsunade sometimes more than she loved her mother.

"Didn't even bring me any damn coffee," the Hokage grumbled, wiping her chin unashamedly.

"Shikamaru's taking care of it," she told her, taking the summoning scroll from her bag. Immediately, Tsunade stiffened. She licked her dry lips.

"Is that it?"

Sakura handed it over. "That's it," she said, feeling her eyes itch with tiredness. They felt tight and uncomfortable and she really wanted to sleep. "That's everything. I made copies too, just in case."

Tucking the scroll in her pocket, her mentor buried her face in her hands for a moment, looking so relieved that a little of the weight Sakura had been carrying for the past six and a half weeks lifted off her shoulders.

Behind her, she heard the slight catch of the door opening and Shikamaru's quiet, unassuming footsteps as he approached the desk and placed the mug of coffee carefully on the desk. His expression was one of mild exasperation – and seeing the dark circles under his eyes, Sakura thought he looked as ready to drop as she felt.

Tsunade took a long gulp of the steaming drink, seemingly immune to the scalding temperature. Sakura could relate. When you'd spent enough long, endless nights on call at the hospital, so drained of chakra you could barely feel it anymore, a little thing like just boiled water stopped registering.

"Then we're ready," the blonde said, a slow, victorious smile curling on her lips as she leaned back in her chair.

"Yes," Shikamaru confirmed, standing beside Sakura with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

They were ready. They were _ready. _

Justice, Sakura hoped, would taste a lot sweeter than revenge. Revenge was bitter and broke everything around it; shattered Sasuke's world and her world and Team 7's world. Maybe this would put an end to it. She could only hope.

The sun was rising higher in the sky and the office was bathed in it. She felt warm and very tired.

Already some of the strain was easing from her mentor's face.

"Breakfast is on me, kids," Tsunade said, her smile as glittering as the gleam of a kunai and _there _was the woman who had taught Sakura how to stop hearts with a single pulse of chakra; a woman who was wise and deadly as she was beautiful. There was the Fifth – the Godaime Hokage. "Come back when you've eaten – we have arrangements to discuss."

Sakura thought of Danzou – and then of the two remaining Elders, so puffed up with their self-righteous lectures and so called importance. They had thought they were untouchable.

_Look on and tremble, _she thought, picturing their lined, wrinkled faces quailing in the face of Tsunade's power.

"What a drag," Shikamaru complained half-heartedly, as they stumbled together through the quiet streets. "I just want to sleep already."

Sakura smiled as he led her over to a newly rebuilt tea-shop. Her eyelids were almost drooping, her limbs felt heavy and slow to respond. She wondered if one day she would develop an immunity to caffeine through her constant consumption of coffee.

"Yeah," she replied, sliding into the booth opposite him. He was all slumped posture and sharp angles, exhaustion setting in his bones. "Me too."

* * *

It was another slow afternoon and Sasuke was staring a spot of sunlight of the living room wall. The warmth in his hair streaming in through the window was pleasant. He allowed himself to indulge in it, to let it creep into his head and make his thoughts slow and unimportant. When his eyes slipped shut, he was so far gone into the warmth that he didn't even notice. He had missed this warmth – the golden sun – when he was in Sound. Always.

The quiet knock on his door startled him, his heart beating skittishly against his ribcage. Naruto never knocked. Kakashi had appeared as though he had sprung up out of the ground. His hand twitched for his katana as he moved to the door, but he couldn't sense the chakra of the one who stood behind it.

_No matter who it is, they are no match for me. _He wrenched the door open, sharingan already activated.

His visitor stared back at him with impassive green eyes and for a moment Sasuke had no idea who she was because the colours were all wrong and he was looking at a kunoichi, not a girl.

And then she spoke.

"Hello Sasuke," Sakura said.

* * *

_A/n: Kind of choppy but that's the idea folks. Think of it as kind of the interval between the war and the trial arc. Yeah. I _totally _plan this stuff out that far..._

_JUST IN CASE ANYONE IS CONFUSED this chapter is set SIX WEEKS AFTER the previous one. A little time skip because I am too lazy to do filler chapters of inbetween moments. Also, Naruto asked Kakashi to talk to Sasuke, cos I just realised I did not make that clear at all. _

_To everyone who has contributed to SSmonth of livejournal - way amazing stuff I am reading btw. Wish I had the time to participate, but as it is, I can just about squeeze this out for you. As it is I catch up with the entries at about 3 in the morning and feel kind of gobsmacked._

**_1. Did the chapter art thing for 548 make anyone else scream like a little girl? I am feeling so optimistic for Team 7/Sasuke redemption now. Seriously, I don't think the smile has left my face in over 24 hours. _**

**_2. Itachi/Nagato vs Naruto? GODAMNIT, couldn't they have stumbled across Sakura instead? And like, Itachi could have taken that moment to tell her about the massacre. MAYBE THE SAUCE WILL SENSE HIM ON THE FIELD AND COME RUNNING :) Serious issues between those two have to be resolved. _**

**_3. To be a sheep or not to be a sheep? To push back or be pushed out? I would not be 14 again even if you paid me in ze millions. For sure. _**

**_4. Meeting with the high school friends tomorrow. WHY DO I GET MYSELF INTO THESE SITUATIONS? I haven't talked to half of these people in a year. Do you think they'll mind if I just don't show up? _**

_Meh. Reviews= love, you know. _


	15. Chapter Fifteen

"Sakura."

The corner of her mouth quirked slightly at the sound of her name, but she didn't smile. With her hair pulled back from her face in a no-nonsense ponytail and clad all in black – black shorts, black boots, black arm guards- with the green flak jacket their sensei had always favoured, she looked older somehow- older and more subdued.

A few heartbeats of tense silence passed between them before she finally broke it. "I have a message for you from the Hokage."

Her tone coupled with the somewhat tense line of her shoulders indicated this was not a conversation to be having in a public hallway, so reluctantly, Sasuke stepped back from the door to let her in.

For a long moment she didn't move. Her face was uncharacteristically expressionless (and for a split second he wondered when, exactly, this girl who had always worn her heart on her sleeve had learnt to stop her thoughts and feelings from showing), but he saw her fingers flexing spasmodically as she ghosted past him and down the narrow hallway into the living room.

She halted in a patch of pale sunlight. He had forgotten how the daylight looked in her hair, how it brought out all the red and blonde in the pink strands. After all these years, the sight made him stop short but Sakura didn't appear to notice. Her face was averted to the window, revealing a glimpse of her pale throat.

"The message?" Sasuke demanded, shaking away his sudden and unwanted recollections of a younger, happier Sakura standing beside him with the sunlight caught in her hair. Slowly, she turned to face him.

"It's started," she said quietly. "Early in the hours of this morning the investigation into the actions of the Council of Elders and its role in the Uchiha massacre was deemed complete and the results handed over to Tsunade-sama. The evidence," she continued softly, "is irrefutable. As I tell you this, Tsuande-sama is drawing up an arrest warrant for Koharu and Homura. By nightfall they will be in ANBU custody."

It was unexpected, the overwhelming wave of relief that washed over him at her words. The weight he had been carrying on his shoulders for the last six weeks seemed to lessen considerably and he realised that part of him had never expected Tsunade to keep her word – that deep down, he had feared trusting in Konoha would result in nothing but another cruel betrayal. Deep down, he had been making contingency plans should that fear become a reality.

But it wouldn't, he allowed himself to believe. The evidence was _irrefutable. _His clan would have justice and those coldblooded murderous trash – those backstabbing Elders – they would get what they deserved. Just picturing their grisly deaths as he stood and watched made his mouth curl into a cruel, triumphant smile.

Sakura had been watching him with cool, green eyes as though she had known exactly what he was thinking – but the moment his face changed, her gaze grew infinitely more wary.

"What?" He asked her mockingly, impulsively. "Are you _scared _of me, Sakura? Do I make you nervous?"

_Does my triumph disgust you? After everything you have heard about Konoha's poisonous roots, do you still not understand? _

"No," she replied tonelessly. "You don't."

Her apathy aggravated him. He wanted to shake her, hurt her in whatever way it took until that blank façade she was hiding behind shattered.

"I seem to recall you having a small meltdown the last time you were in my presence," he reminded her snidely, watching her face carefully for the smallest flickers of emotion. He became aware that his own hands were clenched into fists and his eyes had begun to take on that irritating itch that meant his sharingan was close to activating.

"Even after all these years, you still think everything is about you."

Her words, spoken quietly and without inflection seemed to reverberate across the still air of his apartment, hovering between the walls alongside the dust motes swirling slowly in the rays of sunlight. It was not an insult or an accusation - which made it sting all the more.

"Get out!" he spat across the distance between them, "I don't want you here – this matter is between myself and the Hokage."

"Tsunade-sama is a very busy woman," Sakura remarked, as though she was merely commenting on the weather. "She does not have the time or inclination to deal with you personally when she has a village to run and a trial to organise. Unless you wish to be kept in the dark regarding this matter you will co-operate with whomever she sends in her place."

"Not if it's you," he snarled before he could stop himself and though nothing in her face changed, something in the depths of her eyes seemed to harden at his words, the harsh sound of his voice.

"The trial is scheduled to take place the day after tomorrow. You will be under the watch of an ANBU guard until you are summoned as a witness to give your testimony." She paused and a horrible smile flickered across her lips, nothing like the wide grin he remembered. "I know it will be a challenge, but try not to kill anyone in the meantime, Uchiha."

As she moved to flit past him and back down the hallway, he couldn't help but act on the flare of rage in his chest at her cutting, carefully calculated words. "Like I tried to kill you, you mean? Like you tried to kill me?"

It was a bitter memory for him, that moment when he had realised what her true intentions were as she stood across from him in the Land of Iron, only a few feet and three long years between them.

Once, Sakura might have left the Leaf for him – but never would she have joined him knowing he actively sought to destroy it, or at least, without asking _why. _But Sakura had not asked. She had accepted his words with nothing more than a surprised blink of her wide green eyes.

Three years was a long time to spend apart, but despite his claims he had remembered everything. He knew Sakura. Sakura was inquisitive and intelligent and irritated him endlessly in her relentless questioning of his goals. Everything she had said that day had been a lie; a mockery of that moonlit night all those years ago. Though he hated to admit it, her attempt to stab him in the back using the affection she had once shown him when they were children had infuriated him almost as much as seeing the eyes Danzou had stolen from the corpses of his clan.

From the sudden, tense silence pressing down on him, he knew his words had stopped Sakura short, her quiet, even footsteps cutting off abruptly.

"Don't you dare," she said very quietly, but he could hear the hard fibre of anger in her voice. "Don't you _dare _compare yourself to me. You know absolutely nothing-"

"You came at me that day with the intent to kill," he interrupted her coldly. "I know that much, a blind man could have seen it, the attempt was so pathetic."

"Yes," he heard her say through the hard pulse of anger in his ears. "It was. I've killed people before; I'm even good at it most of the time."

"Not good enough, obviously."

There was another short silence and it pressed down on him, heavy and oppressive and he wondered why he was saying these things and what the point of airing these accusations was. He didn't care, did he? In the grand scheme of things, Sakura had never mattered.

"Sasuke," Sakura said at last and she sounded suddenly very tired. It was, he realised, the first time she had said his name – just his name.

"Sasuke," she said again, softer this time and just for a moment he thought he heard an echo of the girl he had known in her voice. "There is a difference between accepting someone has to die and actively wanting them dead."

Sasuke whirled on her then, not realising his sharingan had activated as he glared furiously at her turned back. _"Bullshit."_

She turned to look at him over her shoulder and the mask, the perfect composure was back in place. If he hadn't known better he would have thought it had never slipped. "Not at all," she murmured softly. "You would have put a chidori through my head without a second thought, but I- I could not follow through. So there is a difference, Sasuke. It is the difference between you and me."

The hard marble cast to her eyes had disappeared, but she did not cry as he would have expected her to, once. Even as he stared at her with angry, red eyes he had to acknowledge that this was not the girl who had tried to kill him – but she was not the girl who claimed to love him either. It was unsettling, the slow realisation that he was looking at a stranger with an old friends face. He was no longer sure who, exactly, was hiding behind it.

She opened the front door and gave him once last look over her shoulder. "Goodbye," Sakura said and let herself quietly out of his apartment.

* * *

The moment the door closed behind her, Sakura was running. Her heart beat traitorously fast in her chest, the uneven _thumpthumpthump _beneath her ribcage too painful to contemplate as she ducked through the open window at the end of the corridor. With every slap of her soles against Konoha's newly built rooftops, the pressure in her chest increased until the uncontrollable need to put as much distance between herself and Sasuke was impossible to ignore.

She thought she could run until the ends of the earth if it meant she would never have to stand in a small, close room with his bottomless black eyes scrutinising her every move, watching for the smallest sign of weakness, ever again. Just being in his presence cut her open and laid her bare. It had taken every single ounce of her self-control to find and hold the emotionless mask Sai had taught her to create and even then, it hadn't been enough. All Sakura could hope for was that she had somehow managed to prevent Sasuke from seeing what, exactly, was going on under the surface.

_You're such a hypocrite, _her inner voice piped up as she propelled herself forward. _He tried to kill Naruto too and there's nothing wrong between them. If Naruto can let it go, then why can't you? What makes you so goddamn special? _

"Shut up," she told herself urgently, even as exhaustion pulled at her, willing her to stop, to slow down, to curl up somewhere and let herself be insensible to the world.

She wanted to curl up in her old room at her old house and fall asleep to the feel of her mother stroking her hair – soothing out the tangles with her fingers like she did when she was little. But even if her mother would put aside her anger and resentment to provide the comfort Sakura needed, this was not the helplessness of a little girl being bullied for her slightly larger than average forehead. The ties between Team 7, the broken bridges between herself and Sasuke – these were things that her mother would never be able to understand.

Everything was unbearably bright; the mixture of sunshine and exhaustion made the whole of Konoha more vivid, its colours richer than normal so it almost hurt to look at them. Sakura hopped down from the rooftops, heading towards open ground. Her feet carried her to the grassy slope Shikamaru favoured for cloud watching, her hands clenched into painful fists. Where had all her rage gone? Why did she feel instead like there was an ocean crashing around in her chest, waves roiling back and forth in a crescendo, waiting to spill out into the light of day?

When she found him lying on his back with his eyes closed, she knew better than to be surprised.

"Shikamaru…"

"I thought for sure you'd be sleeping by now," he muttered as Sakura sat down beside him, arms looped around her knees. "Big day for you tomorrow."

"I'm too tired to sleep," she said softly. At that he cracked a dark eye open to stare at her, his expression knowing.

"She should have sent someone else."

Sakura sighed, head swimming and lay back in the grass beside him. The uncomfortable and unwanted pounding of her heart began to slow for the first time since she had knocked on Sasuke's door.

"I would have had to see him eventually," she reminded him very quietly. "You know what Naruto is like."

"…Troublesome," he muttered, closing his eyes again and she snorted so that she wouldn't cry. Her own eyelids began to droop and all she could concentrate on was the warmth soaking into her skin as the sun shone benignly down on them and she willed away the pressure gathering behind her eyes.

She had lain like this with Shikamaru many times in the last few years, both of them content to stare up at the endless blue sky. He liked the quiet, she suspected, the time away from Ino in all her bossy glory, while she had taken comfort in this one universal truth; that no matter how far away Sasuke went from her, they would always be under the same sky. As long as they were both alive, no amount of time or distance could change that.

"You still love him," Shikamaru's quiet observation broke through her sleepy thoughts. Sakura hadn't even realised her eyes had closed; she forced them open now to find him looking at her solemnly. Both of them remembered that awful day when he had come to her and asked for permission to kill Sasuke; she knew it had hurt him to have to ask almost as much as it had hurt her to have to agree.

Even knowing what she knew now, she couldn't bring herself to blame anyone – because what if Sasuke hadn't had a reason to go off the rails? What if he had been exactly what he appeared to be; a boy who had been so twisted by darkness that there was no coming back from it?

Perhaps she should have known better, but she hadn't. Even being under the same sky couldn't reconcile the boy she had known with the boy who had joined Akatsuki.

Sakura could feel the tremor in her smile even as she closed her eyes. The softest of breezes whispered through her hair- and what was the point in lying about it? Shikamaru had eyes that had always been able to see right through her.

"I never stopped," she whispered back.

* * *

She hadn't been lying when she had told him ANBU would be watching him. Though he couldn't see them, Sasuke could sense their chakra signatures poised on nearby rooftops. Two of them. For some reason it did nothing to help his foul mood.

The sky outside had turned to smoky indigo – yet Naruto and his unexpected companion showed no sign of leaving anytime soon. His company and the ANBU's watchful gazes seemed to make the walls of his small apartment shrink in on themselves. Sasuke felt like he was living under a microscope.

"Are you ever going to leave me in peace?" He demanded bluntly. Naruto, who was in the middle of animatedly recounting a tale involving angry mist-nin, 'pervy-sage' and a whorehouse, paused for a moment to glare at him and then continued as though Sasuke hadn't spoken. Beside the blonde on the couch, Hinata Huuyga was listening to his story avidly, the slightest of blushes on her face.

To say he had been surprised when his so-called best friend burst through his front door, tugging the dark haired girl along behind him by the hand would be an understatement. He dimly recalled a painfully shy, short haired girl who always seemed to be scared. Noticing the quiet smile on her lips, the way her pale eyes lingered on Naruto's face, Sasuke thought that while some vestiges of shyness remained, she no longer seemed as though she was afraid of her own presence in the world. How much had changed while he had been away? In the intervening years between now and the night he left – those long years spent in the dark catacombs of Sound – who else had changed beyond his carefully buried recollections?

"Y'know…you kinda suck as an audience, bastard. When I told this to Sakura-chan she laughed for a full five minutes."

"Hn." He turned away, just the mention of her name prompting an uncontrollable glower. Since when had she and the Dobe gotten so close anyway? Last he knew, the blonde irritated her more than anyone else in Konoha.

But then, he reminded himself darkly, the last he knew Naruto was the scum of the Village and now he was their beloved hero, wasn't he? After six and a half long weeks, confined to his apartment as he was, it was finally beginning to dawn on him that time had not stood still in those years that he had been gone.

"Ano…" Hinata murmured with a smile. "I heard from Kiba that she also hit you once she finally stopped laughing."

Sasuke watched as the two shared a look – Hinata shyly amused and Naruto almost sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head- and felt suddenly like he was alone in the room. The moment passed.

"She may have said something about me being a pervert," he admitted, flushing slightly. "But you know that's not true Hinata-chan!"

Sasuke had to make a conscious effort to hold back a derisive snort. This, from the boy who would somehow end up snuggling with Sakura while they were asleep, on every overnight mission they undertook when they were genin. He remembered waking first on those early, still mornings when the three of them shared a tent- Naruto snoring as he cuddled into Sakura's back, Sakura lying on her side between them, her hands tucked under her head and he, Sasuke, breathing heavily with the remnants of the old nightmares, his ankles intertwined with hers where he had moved in the night.

The sudden recollection took him by surprise – but it had been happening a lot recently, as though half of his memories had been lying dormant for the past three years, meticulously locked away in a secret corner of his mind at some unidentifiable time after he had left Konoha and now-

Now it was like a lock had come undone inside him and everything was floating back to the surface when he least expected it; the small things he had tried so hard not to remember, but that had been too precious ever to truly forget.

"Oi, Sasuke are you listening to me?" Naruto's indignant shout brought him out of his melancholy thoughts with a scowl.

"No."

What was he doing, thinking about Team 7 anyway? He had more important things to concentrate on – tomorrow's trial for instance. Everything depended on its outcome. _Everything. _

"N-Naruto-kun was telling us about his sage-t-training," Hinata ventured shyly, but her voice was warm as she spoke to him. The blonde needed no further encouragement; he was off again, waffling on about toads and chakra and a mountain he'd never heard of.

"Look at this, teme!"

A blur of handsigns and Naruto's eyes changed; his irises turned to a yellowy green and his pupils slitted into horizontal lines. As Sasuke watched, his head snapped towards the window and the west side of Konoha, a thin line of tension rolling up his back.

"What-"

"Shit!" With the same unfamiliar speed, Naruto was flying out the window with a garbled, "Watch over Saskue-teme, Hinata-chan!"

He was gone before Sasuke could blink. In the sudden quiet, Hinata rose to her feet, Byakugan activated as she stared after the blonde, her expression growing troubled.

"Something is happening." It was not a question, but a demand for more information. Sasuke turned the full force of his attention on her, knowing it would intimidate. Hinata seemed to shrink under his gaze, biting her lip nervously.

"There is a- a skirmish on the other side of the village," she told him, as the chakra signatures of the ANBU outside suddenly snapped into tense focus.

"Who?" He growled, stepping closer.

"It l-looks like Root," she whispered. "They're trying to attack someone….Naruto has gone to help."

Outside the figures of the ANBU flitted closer, their silhouettes shadowed against the night sky. But their attention, like Hinata's, was on the other side of the village. He could only conclude that they were closing ranks around him to keep others out – whatever was happening beyond his view obviously had something to do with him. With him – and with the trial?

"No!" Hinata, clearly anticipating his movement, moved to block the window, all traces of shyness melting away. "You cannot leave this apartment, Sasuke-san. I'm sorry."

Eyes bleeding red, his hand was already moving towards the katana propped against the wall. "Move," he snarled, the cool feel of metal beneath his fingertips already calling him across the rooftops.

"Naruto-kun is relying on me," she said, taking up a defensive stance. "Please do not force me to seal your chakra points."

There was a split second in which Sasuke glared down at her with all his might – and swallowing, Hinata gazed back with grim determination. Then an explosion rocketed through the quiet streets and all his anger was forgotten as in the distance, a roar of flames burst into being against the inky night sky.

* * *

The steady tick of the clock echoing across the empty spaces of the unfamiliar apartment was almost deafening. Sakura sat with her legs curled beneath her on the sofa cradling a mug of tea in her hands as she waited, taking great care not to watch the windows. Her fingers itched for the feel of a kunai or senbon to defend herself when the moment came, but Shikamaru had said they probably wouldn't kill her straight off. Not with the trial tomorrow morning; for one of the key witnesses to turn up dead the night before just screamed conspiracy. That was what they were counting on anyway.

Just for a moment she allowed her eyes to flicker to the rooftops and back again, reassuring herself that even if she couldn't see them, everyone was in position.

_This will work, _she told herself, taking another careful sip of tea. _Shikamaru knows what he's doing. _

No matter how many times she repeated it, the anxiety curdling in her stomach refused to go away; anticipation for battle was one thing, sitting around helplessly was quiet another.

As the shadows in the room lengthened with the setting of the sun, Sakura sighed quietly and realised her tea had gone cold. Setting the mug gently down on the coaster, she looked around at her surroundings. The apartment was small and cosy. Homey almost. She found it ironic that its owner had only lived in Konoha for a matter of weeks- and yet their apartment looked a lot more lived in than her own. She flicked the lamp on and bustled into the kitchen, humming as she filled the kettle.

When the sky had darkened to impenetrable indigo, they struck.

Sakura was still in the kitchen when the windows exploded inwards in a shower of broken glass. A shriek escaped her lips as the new mug slipped between her fingers and she backed up, feeling blood well in the shallow cuts on her face and arms.

"W-who are you?" She demanded, strands of her uneven red hair falling in her face as she stared wildly at the two intruding shinobi. They wore masks and the tell-tale garb of Root operatives.

"You are under arrest kunoichi," the blonde said, advancing towards her. "By order of the Council."

Sakura kept backing up, making her eyes wide and confused. "By _who's_ order? I haven't done anything wrong!"

_They will make it look like an accident, _she remembered Tsunade telling her yesterday morning, as she and Shikamaru hatched their plan. _Don't kill them unless you absolutely have to, Sakura._

As a third operative materialised behind her, twisting her arms behind her back to disable her, it was a scream of frustration and not fear that escaped her lips- frustration that she was not allowed to fight back.

_Damn bastards, _she thought, making sure to struggle the right amount in her captors arms, while another carefully set exploding tags around the room. The glasses she was wearing slipped from her nose in the scuffle, but from the corner of her eye she saw the first Root member deliberately raise a hand to their ear. Sakura went limp in her captor's arms.

As she felt the pull of a teleportation jutsu take her away from the scene, Sakura's eyes drifted again to the rooftops where the others were watching diligently.

As much as she hated to play the bait, she had to admit to herself that she was looking forward to giving Root a very nasty surprise.

* * *

The house went up in flames as he alighted on a rooftop only a street away from where Sakura's chakra had flared in distress, as she was surrounded by three unfamiliar shinobi. Naruto's eyes went wide, the flames reflected in the blue depths as he shuddered to a sudden halt and a howl screamed out between his lips.

_Sakura-chan was in that house! I have to save her!_

As he leapt across the distance towards the house, the heat hit him like he'd just walked into an oven. Around him, screams rent the night air.

"SAKU-"

A hand latched around his ankle and yanked him out of mid-air. Naruto landed face down on an unfamiliar rooftop, two pairs of hands holding him down.

"Mmmph!" Immediately his hands inched towards each other, the seal for his shadow clones already dancing in his mind's eye, when a familiar voice made him stop short.

"You idiot, Naruto!" Shikamaru's irritated drawl came from somewhere above him. "You almost ruined everything!"

The pressure holding him down suddenly vanished and confused almost out of his mind, he sat up, rubbing his head and trying to ignore the throbbing on his face that indicated his nose had just been broken.

"What did you stop me for, you bastard?" He demanded, already having half a mind to punch the lazy genius into next week. "Sakura's in there!"

"No, she isn't," he hadn't known the second person was Kakashi until he spoke. "They've taken her."

Anger, hot and unquenchable surged through his veins in an unstoppable wave. _"I'll kill them-."_

"You won't," Shikamaru cut him off sounding annoyed . "We need them alive. Besides, Ino's watching over her in case something goes wrong and Sai is already in position."

He indicated the blonde, who was lying motionless in his arms. Naruto's sudden and wild rage quieted as an inkling of reason began to hit him. His blue eyes narrowed with the distinct sense that he was missing something; there was no way that any of the three around him would let unknown and dangerous shinobi cart Sakura off without a reason. That, he knew for certain. He turned to his wild haired sensei with accusing eyes.

"What do you guys know that I don't?"

* * *

_A/n: Yes, my friends. We have finally gotten to the point where frequent SasuSaku interaction starts. Huh. Only took 15 chapters..._

**_1. So the mystery of Itachi's consumable crow has finally been solved. Anyone else kind of disappointed? _**

**_2. Shisui is my new favourite character; my hatred of Danzou is now absolute. _**

**_3. xfucktheglasses dedicated a chapter of her amazing _Breathe Slow _series to me :) If you love the whole Sasuke introspective thing and are looking for a story that is based on recent canon chapters, go ahead and read it already. _**

_Thoughts anyone? I treasure each and every one of your reviews..._


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes: 210 reviews. I might be in love with all of you. Also, as an aside to my anonymous reviewers, because it is the only way to answer your questions/reply to you:**

**1) It _was_ Sakura who gave Sasuke the tomatoes. **

**2) KATANA, d unknown, what and an addicted fan - you all make me blush. Thank you so much for taking the time to provide me with much appreicated feedback. **

**notes 2: To all my other reviewers, I'm so sorry that I did not have the time to answer each and every one of your reviews for last chapter. It was either long responses, or chapter 16 and I figured you'd want this to take higher priority. Even so, I appreciate and am so grateful to every single one of you for leaving such lovely, encouraging responses to my words. You've all helped my confidence a lot :)**

**Imma gonna dedicate this chapter to: ben and jerries chocolate fudge ice cream, the pretty sunset outside and also _Tiny Dundie74 _for such extravagant praise that I nearly started crying - and to the ever amazing _Kaze and Kiba _because she is a hundred kinds of awesome and never fails to leave me a review that inspires me to start on the next chapter. **

* * *

The situation was completely and utterly laughable. Chained to the wall by her arms, Sakura kept her head bowed, red hair falling in her face to conceal the smirk threatening to break free. It was almost insulting really; they'd only left one Root member watching over her and they hadn't even had the decency to bind her with chakra suppressing manacles. It made her feel a lot better to know that if they knew she wasn't really the red haired kunoichi she was impersonating – if they knew, in fact, that she was herself- they would be a lot more nervous of her. A lot more careful. They certainly would have given her more than a casual beating; a bleeding lip and dislocated shoulder wasn't much as far as deterrents went. Not anymore.

As it was, she sagged pathetically and let the chains hold her up while she waited patiently for the signal that would end this necessary charade. For a moment she felt the corner of her mouth turn in a dry half smile; waiting was what she was good at after all. At some point in the last three and a half years it was a reality that she had become intimately acquainted with.

Still, she couldn't deny that this was a section of the Torture and Interrogation Department she had never stepped foot in before – and the stale quality to the air, the thick and impenetrable walls closing her in...well. Suffice to say it wasn't the sort of environment she wanted to spend a lot of time in.

One could scream for hours down here and only the long, dark corridors would hear you. Sakura knew this and yet that wasn't what set her teeth of edge, not really. It was the knowledge that _this _was where Konoha's poisonous roots skulked in the shadows, hiding from the light of day.

This was where Danzou had ruthlessly planned and ordered the murder of everyone Sasuke had ever loved.

Her hands clenched into angry fists as the sound of approaching footsteps in the corridor beyond drew nearer. Sakura wondered idly what Root's new commander looked like – and then how their appearance would change after she was through with them. After Tsunade was through with them.

The footsteps stopped outside the door locking her in and she heard the low murmur of voices – the newcomer was talking to her guard, she supposed. All her joints locked in anticipation as she watched the door through her curtain of hair.

"They would want to torture her first," Kakashi had warned her yesterday morning in Tsunade's office, as she and Shikamaru went over the final details of their plan. "The Council especially will want to find out what she knows before disposing of her."

"You'd better get in position before that happens then, hadn't you?" Sakura had replied stubbornly.

She fervently hoped that he and the others had complied; this was a dangerous game they were playing with Root and the Council. If she sprung the trap too soon, she would fail. And if she failed –

Ifshe failed, at the very least there would not be a trial in the morning.

_That's not an option, _she thought stubbornly as the click of the lock resounded throughout the holding room. _I'm a medic. If the others aren't ready, I'll wait. I can deal with the pain. My henge will hold. _

As the door swung open, three figures swept into the room. If she hadn't spent the last ten minutes with her eyes adjusting, they would have been swallowed up by the shadows. Slowly, Sakura lifted her head. The man before her was unfamiliar; tall, dark haired and in his mid-forties she supposed.

_So this is Danzou's successor, _she thought grimly, before her attention turned to the two Root operatives stood on either side of the door.

"You know why you're here, bitch?" A hand cracked across the side of her face hard enough to make her vision go white. Sakura spat blood on the floor and ignored him, turning her eyes back to the door.

"Tell me who else knows," he demanded, taking a kunai from his belt and twirling it between his fingers in a manner that was obviously meant to threaten. Sakura licked her dry lips and tasted blood.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about," she breathed. "Please- I don't know!"

"You're named as a witness, kunoichi," he snarled, "you and that traitor, Uchiha Sasuke!"

The tip of the kunai pressed against her cheek as he dragged it slowly down. Blood welled in the cut he left behind and Sakura let the tears spill over.

"Tell me what you told the Hokage that made her arrest the Council! Who else is plotting against them? Tell me and I might let you live after this is all over!"

_Don't fight him, Sakura. Not yet. _

Instead she kept her eyes fixed on a point just beyond the commanders shoulder towards the masked Root members. Slowly, the one on the left raised a hand to touch their ear and left it there for several long moments before placing it back at their side.

"Isn't that for Lady Tsunade to decide?" She asked. Her jaw swelling with every word she spoke; Sakura wondered if he had broken it when he slapped her. "She's – she's the Hokage isn't she? I thought you were supposed to be on her side!"

The man laughed and it was cold and a little bitter. "Tsunade is just a woman, little kunoichi. Tonight she might be Hokage, but by morning…"

"…I see."

He must have heard something in her voice, because he turned to look at her at the exact moment she seized the chains binding her and pulled. The thick metal fastenings holding them to the wall snapped as easily as a toothpick and she had great satisfaction in seeing the etchings of horrified surprise crossing the commander's face as she sprang at him, chakra scalpels flickering to life between her fingers. An explosion of movement by the door and a loud snapping sound told her the second guard was being subdued.

"What-"

Sakura let the henge drop as she knocked the man who had hit her to the floor and pinned him, pressing the deadly chakra scalpels between her fingers to the exposed skin on his neck. Pink hair spilled over her shoulders.

"…Haruno." Her name sounded like a curse in the stagnant air and a chuckle slid out of her accomplice's lips.

"Quiet, you traitorous piece of shit."

Sakura jabbed the chakra scalpels a little harder against his throat, watching the widening of his eyes, the dilation of his pupils.

Sakura smiled and lifted her eyes to the Root member who had helped her. "Hello Sai."

"Hag."

"The others are on their way I presume?"

"Ino-san is securing the main office. Shikamaru-san and Kakashi-san have just sealed the exits. They're on their way."

She paused for a moment and looked back down at her prisoner. "Who is this bastard, anyway?"

"His name is Endo Takumi." Sai supplied quietly, looking uncharacteristically grave. "One of the Council's most loyal supporters. When Danzou died, I believe he took control of Root on their orders."

"Endo-san, is it?" She repeated in a murmur, taking great care not to give into the smouldering anger that had taken root in her heart since Kakashi had told her the truth about the Uchiha massacre. "Do you know what happens to those who betray their Hokage?"

He didn't answer, but she could see in his eyes the effort it was taking not to panic at the chakra scalpels poised against his skin; just a twitch of her fingers and she could paralyse him from the neck down. A little lower and she could make sure he would have to find a stock of reliable adult diapers for the rest of his life. And that was only a fraction of what Tsunade had taught her.

Sakura smiled slow and sweet as she saw the beads of perspiration forming at his temples, felt the frantic beat of his pulse beneath her fingers. She wondered how it would feel for _him _to be the one whose screams no one would hear.

"Tell me, Endo-san," Sakura asked him, calculating how many of his fingers she would be able to break before Kakashi and Shikamaru arrived. "Would you like to find out?"

* * *

"Well," Tsunade sighed, propping her chin on her hand as Endo Takumi was led out of her office clad in chakra suppressing manacles. "That's going to be another month's worth of paperwork."

Sakura, sat on the windowsill with her knees drawn up to her chest and letting Shizune fuss over her, gave a very dry smile.

"A terrifying thought if there ever was one, Shishou."

"Stop talking!" Shizune was scandalised. She raised a glowing green hand to Sakura's bruised and swelling jaw. "Honestly, you're getting as bad as Naruto."

The blonde idiot was their most frustrating patient. Countless times, Tsunade or Sakura had put him on bed rest and come back ten minutes later to find he'd snuck out the window. It was no surprise then, that Sakura looked deeply offended by the comparison.

"Am not," she muttered, turning her gaze outwards and beyond the window at the village below where their people quietly slept, never suspecting the calamity that had almost befallen all of them.

Tsunade sighed again and started rubbing her temples, already feeling the beginnings of a migraine coming on. She had seen this coming; had asked Sakura and Shikamaru to set this trap, but she still had hoped that she would be wrong.

Yesterday she had demonstrated that she refused to turn a blind eye to the corruption that was present in Konoha's poisonous roots – and in a matter of hours, they had decided that they would replace her with someone who would. Tonight Konoha had almost been seized up in a coup that would have seen those poisonous roots become the ruling power in the village.

How many Danzou's were they going to have to deal with before peace and stability – _real _peace and stability- would descend on their village?

"I'm getting too old for this," she groaned. "Either of you two want to be Hokage?"

The trial was in a matter of hours and there was still so much left to do; there were statements to make and offices to search and really, she just needed a good night's sleep.

It wasn't just the Elders anymore though; Root was a problem she could no longer afford to ignore.

"No way," they replied simultaneously, both turning to smirk at her.

Shizune, Tsunade thought, was probably just happy that she had to handle this whole damn affair completely sober.

After a while, the dark haired woman left under orders to tighten security around Karin and Uchiha Sasuke; just because they had Endo Takumi in custody, it didn't mean his underlings weren't still a threat. Outside, the sky started to turn an eerie dark green, a sure sign that dawn was well on the way.

Tsunade eyed her apprentice beadily.

"You broke all his fingers," she observed. Sakura nodded, but didn't look away from the window. She wondered if she was picking out the homes of all her friends, if she was thinking about the two boys she had got her jaw broken and her shoulder dislocated for. Her reflection in the glass showed solemn green eyes.

"I wasn't trying to extract information from him, if that's what you're wondering." Sakura said quietly. "He talked a good deal before he knew who I was."

"Then why did you do it?"

Sakura, she knew, could snap a man's spine in half with one kick, could shatter ribs with a single blow. But that was in combat. Methodically breaking someone's fingers the way she did was uncharacteristic of her.

"I don't know," she admitted, shamefaced. "Mostly I think I just wanted to make him scream. Make _someone _scream. I thought – I don't know what I thought, except maybe it might somehow make things better."

The expression on her face convinced Tsunade that it hadn't worked out that way. Sakura was ruthless enough to kill in battle, but it wasn't in her nature to purposely inflict pain on another human being just for the sake of it. Not just because she was a medic, but because she was kind.

"Did it help?"

She was very still. "No. I don't…regret it, but it didn't feel right either." She paused and turned to look across the room at her, pale face bathed in the precious pre-dawn glow. "I crossed a line didn't I?"

Tsunade observed her over folded hands, but she'd like to think her expression was one of understanding rather than condemnation. "Everyone crosses the lines occasionally. The question is whether you intend to make a habit of it, whether you choose to erase the lines completely."

"No," Sakura shook her head slowly, her eyes washed pale by the early morning light. "Sadism – that's not a place I want to go." She paused for a moment longer and Tsunade felt the uneasy kick in her stomach - the silent voice of her quiet suspicions. Her pink haired apprentice looked suddenly very troubles.

"Shishou," she murmured. "I think – I'd like to request a psyche evaluation."

It was unexpected and yet, Tsunade couldn't help but appreciate that Sakura was one of the most sensible people she knew. The clock was ticking away the minutes, the hours before the trial and there was still so much left to do, but she shooed the thought away and gave her full attention to the girl standing before her.

"I've been having such terrible dreams," Sakura confided, head bowed. "I want them to stop."

Even as she was filled with a deep and irrational fury, Tsunade knew that she had to keep a level head and slip into medic mode. This was not the time to spit on a dead monster's rotting memory.

"I'll arrange for a Yamanka-san to have a look at you," she said, proud of the calm radiating from her voice. "But first you're going to tell me what happened between you and Uchiha Madara."

"Shishou?" It was clear to see that Sakura was startled; the subject had been buried between them for the past six and a half weeks, pushed aside by the more urgent matters of justice and betrayal. There had never been the time to talk about it – but she would make the time now.

"Start talking," she commanded, suddenly glad that there was no sake in reach. Sakura stared at her for a long moment, before taking a deep breath.

And then she began to speak.

* * *

When daybreak finally came, it was sudden. But summer mornings were often like that in Konoha; pale dawn split over the horizon long before its inhabitants started to stir from their beds. Sasuke watched the sky lighten from his bedroom window, a strange mix of anticipation and irritation churning in his stomach. Naruto's snoring – thunderous even from the next room – was pissing him off so badly that his teeth were starting to grind.

"Dobe!"

Naruto jolted awake when Sasuke thwacked him in the head with the blunt handle of his katana and looked around with bleary eyes.

"You're such a bastard," he moaned, rubbing his head. "It took me ages to fall asleep and then you wake me up as soon as I do! What the hell is your problem?"

That was true. When Naruto had returned to his apartment, he had been grim faced and antsy the entire time; the way he used to be knowing that someone else was on a particularly difficult and exciting mission while he was stuck doing boring D-ranks and when he was restless like that, the blonde was unbearable to be around. Sasuke had a feeling that he would have restrained his irritating behaviour for Hinata, but after a few whispered words the dark haired girl had quietly relocated to Sakura's apartment and stayed there the rest of the night.

"It's nothing to worry about, teme," Naruto had said, waving a nonchalant hand, but his eyes had darted to the window repeatedly and he had tossed and turned on the sofa all night. Sasuke wasn't fooled; something big was obviously going on and he was furious at the blonde's blatant and obvious attempt to lie about it. Why wasn't he telling him the truth? What if – and here, he was filled with something that he might once have called dread – it interfered with today's trial in some way?

Sasuke hadn't slept, kept awake by his best friend's incessant fidgeting and the uncomfortable feeling that something was going wrong.

"My problem," he hissed, "is that you're such a fucking liar! You're hiding things from me, just like everyone else and I've had enough!" He glared at Naruto for a long moment, feeling his eyes itch the way they always did when his sharingan was close to activating. "And you snore." He added as an afterthought.

Naruto looked indignant. "I do _not _snore!"

"Tell me the truth!" He snarled, feeling his hands clench into fists. The ANBU guard was still there, but they were different members now – there was obviously a shift rotation on who had to watch him.

The blonde sat up properly, planting his feet firmly on the cold, wooden floor and resting his elbows on his thighs. His face was very serious.

"Sasuke…" He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't really know what's going on. Ask Ino when she wakes up."

Well _that _took him aback. "What the hell has Yamanka got to do with any of this?"

He recalled the loud, brash blonde with a mental wince. Out of all his classmates, she had undoubtedly been the most irritating – and while various members of the original Rookie Nine appeared to have undergone some kind of change, he was doubtful that three and a half years had done anything to make the girl any less infuriating.

Naruto looked at him in surprise. "She's at Sakura's with Hinata-chan. Shikamaru asked me to watch over her body while she did her mind-body- switch jutsu, but I didn't think you'd want everyone crashing at your place last night so…"

Immediately, Sasuke felt the scowl settle on his face, though he wasn't sure if it was at the mention of Sakura's name or the realisation that once again she seemed to be avoiding the apartment complex.

He hadn't sensed her chakra since her impromptu visit the day before yesterday.

"Hn."

"Don't ask her then, if you're going to be like that," Naruto yawned, eyeing the kitchen cupboards hopefully. Sasuke heard the joints in his shoulders pop as he stretched. "Sakura-chan will tell me all about it after the trial anyway."

The last part was said in a growl, more of an aggravated promise to himself than a statement of fact. Sasuke stilled dangerously.

"Sakura," he repeated and the blonde jumped, blue eyes widening.

"Hey," he said, scrambling away from him towards the kitchen counter. "What's that scary face for, bastard?"

"You say that like Sakura is going to be at the trial," he all but snarled and Naruto gave him the sort of look that suggested he was deeply stupid.

"Of course she'll be there. I mean – I think a lot of people will be, but-"

"Hn."

He stalked past him to stand at the window, seized with the sudden and unwanted urge to break something. Just picturing her cool, impassive expression while the Elders were finally revealed as the murderous traitors they were made his blood boil. After everything they had done to destroy the Uchiha, surely that deserved a reaction of some kind? For her to sit there and watch the proceedings as though it had no more relevance to her than watching her neighbours cat somehow lessened his triumph and cheapened the justice his family was so desperately owed.

He heard footsteps behind him and didn't have to turn to know that Naruto was there. The familiar hand on his shoulder only confirmed it.

"You stink like a bonfire."

The hand moved and smacked him round the back of the head. "You're such a whiner, Sasuke. It's all 'Naruto you snore. Naruto you stink like a bonfire.' Geez, sometimes you are such a _girl._"

Sasuke glared at him, sorely tempted to throw the blonde head first out the window just for using that awful high pitched voice to imitate him. "I do not sound like that."

The sun was rising properly now, a golden half semi-circle peeking over the horizon and bathing Konoha's rooftops in a warm glow.

From the ceiling, there came the sudden and distinct sound of someone crashing out of bed. Beside him, Naruto looked up so fast Sasuke heard his neck crack.

"OW. So, uh, I guess the girls are up."

He didn't bother to deign him with a reply. Instead Naruto listened to the quiet creak of floorboards in the apartment above and Sasuke watched the sun's ascent into the summer morning sky. With every shadow that receded from the windows, he knew it was just a matter of seconds-minutes-hours until the summons would come.

In silence, they waited.

An hour later, Kakashi appeared between one blink of their eyes and the next, hands in his pockets but lacking his usual complacent slouch. He nodded once at Naruto and the blonde relaxed, before he turned to Sasuke and surveyed him with a gaze that was at once clinical and piercing.

"It's time," he said.

* * *

The tension in the courtroom was so thick that Naruto thought he could probably break his nose on it. He paused in the doorway for a moment, scanning the crowd of shinobi for someone he knew; for a glimpse of Kiba's red facial tattoos, Hinata's gentle eyes or Sakura's vibrant pink hair.

"Damn Kakashi," he muttered, annoyed. His former sensei had shooed him away as they approached the courtroom with a whiny excuse about taking Sasuke to a room for witnesses only.

He had looked to his dark haired friend to gauge his expression, but Sasuke, as he often did looked remote and closed off. He had given no indication that he wanted him to stay, so Naruto had reluctantly allowed Kakashi to steer him away.

"Naruto," a familiar voice called him and he followed the sound to see Neji beckoning him over, Hinata and Tenten sat on either side of him. A sudden hush fell on the room at the sound of his name.

Though he had spent so long yearning for the recognition of his village, it was always strange and slightly unnerving to find himself the focus of so many people's attention – many of those who had avoided his gaze now stared at him almost reverently.

It was unnerving yes, but it filled his chest with warmth too; as a child he had set himself the goal of being acknowledged and respected, but he had never once thought that they might grow to love him too.

"Hey," he strolled over to them, his focus more on Hinata's smile than anything else. "Anything exciting happen yet?"

Neji gave him that look he often did – one he shared with Sasuke, if he was honest- that implied he was a moron. Naruto didn't miss the way Tenten elbowed him in the ribs before the brown haired prodigy could speak, but he had the social graces now (or at least, a healthy fear of scary women) to pretend not to notice.

"Would you like to sit with us, N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, indicating the empty spot on the bench beside her. "There's space for Sakura too when she arrives."

The warmth in his chest grew exponentially and he threw himself down on the bench beside her, ignoring Neji's muttered grumbling and Tenten's knowing smile. "Thanks Hinata-chan!" He smiled some more, noticing that she didn't look too tired – so she must have had a decent night's sleep despite being in Ino's company.

"I wonder what all this is about," Tenten said, looking around with interest. "Apparently the Council has been accused of treason by Lady Tsunade."

"Yes," Neji replied, his face turned towards the centre of the room, where the Tsunade sat at a high table, like a judge. Naruto was grateful to see that no one had been stupid enough to give her a gavel. "That's why all the Clan heads are assembled together. It is to them that the charges and evidence will be presented."

"Huh?" He looked around stupidly to see what the other boy was talking about. To Tsunade's right there was a long table where all the Clan heads – Hinata's, Shikamaru's, Chouji's, Ino's and Shino's father's and Kiba's mother- all sat in a long line with the same grim expression mirrored on each of their faces. The bottom most bench – where Sasuke and the other witnesses would sit – was empty. Shizune sat at a low desk in front of Tsunade's monstrous podium looking agitated as usual, a stack of folders in front of her. The seat beside her was empty.

Scattered across the room he caught glimpses of the rest of his friends- Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru sat together two rows behind him, Kiba sat with his sister looking impatient and Shino sat at the back seemingly sulking again.

Hinata's fingers brushed against his, not holding his hand but very close to it. Sparks of electricity travelled up his arm, every nerve in his fingertips suddenly excruciatingly aware of her skin just touching his own. Slowly and without looking at her, Naruto laced their fingers together.

From the peripheral of his vision he could see that her face had turned a sudden, rather becoming red.

He had never been able to share the details behind the Uchiha massacre with anyone; had had to endure weeks of slander and gossip surrounding the sudden and unexpected return of his best friend. Every time he had heard someone tearing Sasuke down with hateful words and mistrusting attitudes he had wanted to scream at them just how ignorant they were – that the dark haired boy had suffered and lost more than they would ever know. Naruto knew he had a big mouth, that he was easily provoked into confrontation, but he had kept quiet in the knowledge that when the truth came out, _everyone _would be forced to eat their words.

Today was that day. Not everything in his world would be made right – nothing and no one would ever be able to bring pervy-sage or his parents back to him, nothing would ever erase those lonely years of his childhood – but today someone he cared about was finally going to get the resolution, the closure, that he needed. And after all this time, Sasuke would truly belong to them – to Konoha- again.

Hinata, he thought, had already made steps to make him realise this. She had come to see his best friend with him, even before knowing why he turned against them.

Naruto looked down at their joined hands, resting between them on the bench and back up at the courtroom, unable to hold back a bright and hopeful smile.

After today, things would one day become as they were supposed to be. It was a glorious feeling.

* * *

Kakashi led him round the back of the courtroom through a deserted corridor to a room he did not recognise and stopped outside the door. Sasuke couldn't be sure, but he thought his old sensei seemed tenser than usual – the orange book he used to prize so much was nowhere in sight and his one visible eye was narrowed in thought. Neither of them had said a word to each other the entire time, though he contemplated on asking him what had happened during the night. He had little doubt that Kakashi would know what was going on; in his memories he remembered him as a man who was constantly three steps ahead of everyone else, even if he didn't look it. The only time he had caught him by surprise, he imagined, was when he abandoned Konoha to seek Orochimaru out. For a moment he felt a flicker of guilt imagining how the man who had taught him, trained him, tried his hardest to look after him had felt on finding out – how there would always be the knowledge that he was one of the last people to talk to him and he hadn't seen Sasuke's defection coming. He wondered for an uncomfortable moment, if he had blamed himself.

"You're to wait in here until you're called," Kakashi said and he seemed more present suddenly, as though he had come back from whatever he had been thinking about and focused on Sasuke. "Someone will come as soon as the trial starts."

"Hn."

He knew he should step through the door, but he had questions he wanted answers to. Did he even trust Kakashi to tell him the truth?

But then again, when had he ever lied to him?

His former teacher ran a gloved hand through his unruly silver hair. "Well, I'll be off then. I'm supposed to be meeting someone. Good luck, Sasuke – though I doubt you'll need it."

He turned to walk away, his hand thrown up in a lazy gesture that he recognised from his genin days to mean, "see you later."

"Kakashi," he called before he could stop himself and was gratified to see the other man pause and turn to look back at him. His gaze was dark and serious and Sasuke was reminded in that moment that he had always found Kakashi's own eye much more intimidating than his sharingan one. Not that he would ever tell anyone that of course.

"What happened last night?" He fumbled for the words, uttered them in a harsh demand.

Kakashi considered him for a long moment, his hands in his pockets. "You'll find out at the trial," he said eventually and turned away again. Sasuke watched his retreating back for a moment, knowing there was no point in asking again. For some reason though, he could not shake the feeling that he had failed some sort of test – as though Kakashi had been weighed his worth and found him wanting.

More unsettling still was the realisation that it bothered him. Just a little.

Glowering, he wrenched the door open and stalked into the room, resigned now to waiting. It took a few seconds for him to realise there was someone else already in there- someone who turned at the sound of the door opening, her shoulders stiffening defensively, wide red eyes betraying her unease.

If he was anyone else his draw might have dropped.

"_Karin?"_

* * *

_A/n: _

_1. I don't think I cooked the chicken enough in my stir fry - may have inadvertantly given my sister food poisoning. Oooops..._

_2. So I've fallen in love with Itachi. He seemed so much more human in chapter 551 and I think he even made a joke at Naruto's expense. _

_3. Anyone else irritated by the fillers in the anime? I just want to get to the bit where we meet Kushina, damnit. _

_4. Ao No Exorcist. WATCH IT NOW. _

_Bah. Please, please, please tell me Sasuke-kun is going to pop up in the manga soon? I want him and Itachi to meet again without all those lies between them. Maybe then Sasuke's issues with Konoha could be resolved. _


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**A fun story: Yesterday, while I was doing the washing-up like a good little girl, I sliced my index finger open on the lid of a baked bean can. It bled like crazy for about ten solid minutes, in which I stuck my hand under the tap and eventually yelled for my sister, who was in the bath upstairs. **

**Much disgruntled, she eventually came to my rescue – but not before I passed out and smacked the back of my head on the kitchen chair I knocked down with me. I think she probably laughed at me for five minutes straight :( **

**I think I probably need stitches, but oh well. IT WILL MAKE A LOVELY SCAR. **

**I am never doing the washing up again. **

**ALSO THIS ONE IS DEDICATED TO SAKURA'S UNICORN. SHE KNOWS WHY :)**

* * *

"Sasuke."

Karin wanted to sound cold, unperturbed by his presence in the shadowed room –certainly, she had sensed him coming- but instead, her voice came out in a wavering whisper. He looked the same, she thought, unable to help the way her eyes drank him in; black hair, pale skin and dark, bottomless eyes.

He was still achingly beautiful and Karin had always been drawn to beautiful things. It was what had drawn her to him in the dark catacombs of Sound, like a moth to an open flame.

It had fooled her, she knew. Captivated by his pretty face, she had ignored the coldness that lived inside him like a living thing – or perhaps, after so long living in the ugliness of Sound, she had simply stopped caring. Taking things at face value was a trap she fell into time and again, first with Orochimaru and then with his student.

Not anymore though. After what he had done to her at the Kage Summit, something had shifted inside her and living in Konoha – in a normal, sane, _happy_ village- had made her start questioning everything she had become. She hadn't realised how cold the world she'd immersed herself in was until faced with Konoha's warmth. Looking at him now, in all his cold perfection, Sasuke equally enthralled and repulsed her.

His dark eyes narrowed in that dangerous way they always did and Karin knew he was confused and not at all happy to see her.

"What are _you _doing _here?" _

Goosebumps broke out over her skin at the sound of his voice, cracking like a whip across the space between them. "I could say the same to you," she said, her own voice trembling, weak, in comparison to his. "Wasn't it your ambition to annihilate this village?"

_Isn't that what you almost killed me for? _

She couldn't read his expression or his silence, but there was nothing new in that; even when they were teammates, she had been unable to decipher what was going on beneath the surface.

Karin pretended to herself that, just maybe, he didn't know what to say, in order to level the playing field a bit. It wasn't true of course; she had never been able to unsettle or fluster him, but it was better than remembering the air of calculated calm about him, the forceful and icy feel of his chakra in those seconds before he stabbed her.

"Of course, I'm not surprised you weren't expecting to see me here," she continued, trying to get a handle on the role she used to play so well; that of the scathing female. "After you stabbed me through the chest and left me to bleed out in the dirt, I imagine you fully expected me to be dead. Intended it, actually. Another thing you messed up, huh? Too bad."

There. She saw it. A flash of something elusive and unnameable passing over his features. To her surprise it gave her little satisfaction.

"That's a Konoha hitai-ate." Sasuke was staring at the forehead protector she was wearing and Karin took heart in the now familiar weight of it, the soft press of the material against her head.

"Well spotted," she replied, still grappling with the idea of scorn. Derision was something she was intimately familiar with –for years she had put other people down to pull herself up- but it was hard to summon with the sick, lurching feeling in her chest that came with the sting of betrayal.

It was a bitter pill to swallow and Karin didn't know if she ever would; that somehow, she had inexplicably grown to trust Sasuke, after vowing that she would never trust anyone again. She had put her faith in him, trusted him to save her. She knew he could have done it; he was fast and skilled enough to save her _and_ still finish off Danzou. He could have done both.

He had consciously chosen not to.

"Karin," he said and his voice was dark. "Tell me why you are here."

For a brief second she considered rebuffing him, telling him to take his damn orders and to shove them up where the sun didn't shine. She didn't. She'd never had the strength to challenge Sasuke.

"I bet you never knew I eavesdropped on you and Madara, did you?" She blurted out instead, watching the momentary starburst of something that might have been surprise in his eyes. "After you left me to die like an animal, Konoha took me in. They were kind to me, gave me a second chance." She folded her arms across her chest and dragged her eyes away from him.

"Lady Hokage asked me to serve as a witness," she added softly and even she could hear the respect in her voice for the voluptuous blonde leader of the Leaf Village. "So, I am. Deal with it."

If she didn't know better, she would have said he was stunned- but Karin didn't know Sasuke at all, she now realised. More to the point, she realised that she didn't _want _to know him, either.

"Why?" he asked finally. "You shouldn't even be here after what I did to you."

Karin was indignant. "I am not doing this for you!" she all but snarled at him, a sudden surge of rage striking inside her like a match. "I helped you- healed you! I went along with all of your insane plans, got into fights that almost killed me for your goals and what did you do? You sacrificed me like I meant nothing!"

'_If you're unable to prevent yourself from being taken hostage, you are nothing but a burden to me.' _The words had haunted her for weeks, had replayed in her head for all those days she had spent in Konoha's interrogation rooms by herself. It wasn't fair, she thought with a sense of hollow despair, that he could make her feel so…worthless with just a few words. After all, she had never pretended to be a good fighter, had she? That wasn't why he had taken her along for the ride.

Karin turned away from him as the last words left her mouth, hating that she sounded more betrayed and hurt than angry.

There was a long, tense silence in which she stared out the window, wondering why the hell no one had come to collect them yet. She just wanted to get this trial over and done with now, so she could leave and go back to her apartment, away from Sasuke and all the stains of her past – the things she had done to survive.

"Why are you doing this then?" Sasuke asked quietly from the other side of the room and it surprised her.

Before she could answer, the door swung open and the pink- haired girl who had saved Karin's life – the one Sasuke had tried to break like a porcelain doll – appeared in the doorway, her left arm in a sling.

Haruno Sakura.

Sasuke's reaction was immediate; every line in his body stiffened, his shoulders tensed and his hands clenched into fists.

"What are you doing here?" He ground out between clenched teeth and Karin was surprised to see that this girl, who had cried so easily, showed as much reaction to his presence as she would a rock. Her eyes were dry and expressionless and looked straight through him. It was a good act, she had to admit, better than she had expected from such a fragile-looking slip of a girl.

"They're ready for you now," Sakura announced and Karin noticed she had a split lip. She watched Sasuke notice it, too – saw the way his fingers flexed and his eyes narrowed in on it. It might have made her jealous once. "Please follow me."

Sakura disappeared into the hall and Karin hastily moved to follow. The look on Sasuke's face made her pause by the door.

"You don't know, do you?" she asked, almost disbelieving, but his thunderous expression only confirmed it for her.

"Know _what?"_ Sasuke snarled, his composure more shaken in those few short seconds, than it had been the entire time in her presence. Karin had never been able to get under Sasuke's skin, but Haruno Sakura seemed to manage it without even trying- it was a thought that caused a dull ache in her chest, one that she wished would go away.

Instead, she thought of the green-eyed girl's devastated face hovering above her, illuminated by the soft glow of her chakra. She thought of the long nights that same girl had sat by the Hokage's side asking questions and making endless notes.

Karin shook her head. "You wanted to know why I'm doing this; well, here's your answer, Sasuke. After you stabbed me through the chest and left me to die, Haruno-san was the one who saved my life. I owe her this."

She stalked out the room without once looking back.

* * *

When he stepped through the door, it seemed as though the entire courtroom was holding its breath.

The crowd was a blur of nameless faces – silent and frozen, the weight of their gazes another burden to carry. He hated how his eyes slid to Sakura in that moment, seeking something wordless and unknown- something, he thought, that she used to give him freely and without question- but her face was turned away from him. Holding the door open, her green eyes stared out fearlessly towards the spectators, the strangers that had come to hear the truth of his clan's demise at their own hands.

His heart beat fast inside his chest; his skin broke out in a cold sweat. Not for himself – never for himself, but for his family because this was their moment. Killing Itachi left nothing but ashes in his mouth that left him choking in the dark, burning, bleeding from the inside out. His insides were hollow. This was the justice that had never been forthcoming until today.

Sakura let the door slip through her fingers and the sound of it closing reverberated through the still, silent air. A shiver, barely perceptible, rippled through the audience and Sasuke thought of the lake where he had first leant his family's Katon, how when the water was disturbed, the surface broke in rings that pushed outwards. The murder of his clan had sent ripples of its own through the passing of the years until he reached _this_ moment_._

He felt like there were ghosts trailing in his shadow.

Sasuke counted Sakura's measured footsteps, the quiet sound of her soles against the hardwood floor, as she led them over to an empty bench at the front of the audience. Karin's walk was stiff and uncomfortable, her movements halting. A part of his mind not occupied with the trial and the heavy weight of the dead was still reeling with her sudden and unexpected reappearance in his life.

In Sound, Sasuke had learnt how to compartmentalise his life into clear, precise lines. Karin was Sound and Orochimaru and Taka and insanity; Konoha was childhood and summer and ramen and Team Seven.

To have those two parts of his life irrevocably meet and overlap, deconstructed all his carefully drawn boundaries and laid them to waste.

Sakura stopped by the bench and Karin halted beside her, both with their backs to him. Two people – two girls - he had never expected to see side by side. Even without his permission, his mind drew infinite comparisons between them - then… the moment passed.

Karin sat and scooted awkwardly down the bench in an attempt to put as much distance between them as possible. Her aversion to him was not unwelcome, but he was not proud of the catalyst that lay behind it – his own deplorable actions.

A flurry of movement caught his eye; his focus flickered upwards towards a blot of orange.

_Naruto. _

Dead-last grinned at him for a moment and Sasuke almost rolled his eyes as he slid into his seat. High above him, he saw Naruto's gaze shift to the pink-haired girl still standing, saw him pat the empty seat beside him enthusiastically. His blue-haired girlfriend sat on his other side, with her cousin and his female teammate. If Sasuke had ever learned the brunette's name, he had long ago forgotten it.

But Sakura shook her head, green eyes softening in what Sasuke suspected was an apology. Her mouth lifted in the smallest of smiles and his eyes were drawn, once again, to her split lip. The corner of her mouth was stained red.

He looked down at his clenched hands, the anxious _thumpthumpthump _of his heartbeat in his ears too loud to ignore.

"Stay calm." Sakura spoke very quietly, loud enough so that he alone could hear. The two words were slow in their journey from his ears to his brain. By the time he looked up, she had disappeared – probably to sit with Naruto in the stands- and the doors were opening once again.

Kakashi led two chained figures to a stand in the middle of the floor. Their shuffling gait and wrinkled faces inspired only hatred inside him. His blood burned, called out for him to rip their throats out with a swift slice of his Chidori.

The Elders.

In their dulled eyes and worn hands, he saw the slack faces of everyone he had ever loved, felt again the cooling blood that pooled on the ground and soaked through his sandals. Bile rose in his throat, his entire body shook – trembled so hard that he thought all his bones would splinter and break apart into white-hot fragments that could set the world on fire. The horror he had felt on that moonlit night had never died or faded; the rage that had sprung up in its shadow threatened to swallow him whole.

_Stay calm. _

Sasuke would never know, in years to come, how her words floated back to him through the mire of his all-encompassing hatred, to save the dregs of his sanity that had not yet been consumed. But they did.

He clung to her words like a dying man, as though on the other side of them, he might arrive somewhere far away from that dark place inside him that obliterated everything.

As Tsunade brought her hand down with the force of a sledgehammer, Sasuke's eyes snapped open. He did not remember closing them, but the red haze that took over when he was at his most dangerous seemed to be receding.

A minute and thirty-three seconds had passed and Sakura, grim-faced, was distributing a thick folder to each of the clan heads gathered at the side of the room in a line - something like a jury.

He was barely aware of his surprise as she took her seat at the front of the room, beside the

dark-haired woman Sasuke recognised as the Hokage's assistant. The hard and angry pulse of blood in his ears prevented him from registering much of anything except the murderers of his clan.

"Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane – you are brought here today before Konoha's shinobi to answer for your crimes-"

"Tsunade," the man, elderly and grey blustered at her, clearly outraged. "What is the meaning of this- this _travesty?_"

"You cannot put us on trial," the woman, Koharu, added. "We are the Council!"

Tsunade's face was hidden in the shadow of her Kage hat. All Sasuke saw in that heartbeat before she replied was the glint of stony amber eyes.

"_Honourable _Council_,_" she spat sarcastically. "The magnitude and enormity of your crimes speak for themselves. This is not a trial; this is a sentencing. The proof," she added, raising her voice to address the clan leaders and the spectators in the stands, "is undeniable. Ten years ago, Root and the Council of Elders ordered the massacre of the Uchiha clan."

* * *

It did not go entirely smoothly. In a perfect world, Sakura thought, everything would be clear cut and cast in black or white. The right response would be immediate – an unstoppable force of nature – but that inevitability of justice and punishment only came around for the little things; small children caught with chocolate around their mouth, the cookie jar tellingly empty.

Instead, for the things that truly mattered, they were faced with arguments and manipulations and protestations of innocence; wasted time and a headache waiting to happen.

Of course the Elders were going to put up a fight - no matter how futile that fight may be. Of course they would not accept their punishment with good grace - accepting that the truth was out and all they could do now was face the consequences.

Sakura sighed quietly, the diligent scratching of Shizune's pen beside her as she took the minutes a small reprieve from the loud and on-going debate between the Elders and her mentor.

The crowd sat silently, each of their faces frozen in the same expression of shock and horror. She knew how they felt; it was a revelation that was so terrible, no one had seen it coming.

But the shock wouldn't last for long. Even as the Elders tried to dig themselves out of the situation, the clan leaders were reading the files she herself had distributed for their perusal, seeing the evidence for themselves – the proof of Koharu's and Homura's guilt; the execution order that both they and Danzou had signed.

She could see Sasuke in the periphery of her vision; a pale ghost bleeding malevolence into the air around him. He sat with his gaze directed to the worn, wooden floor and Sakura had a feeling, deep in her bones that if she were to see his eyes they would be as wild and dangerous as a thunderstorm.

For a brief moment, she allowed herself to wonder at the effort it must take for him to root himself so firmly in place. She had seen Sasuke's unstoppable rage first-hand on many occasions. But it had been a long, long time, she realised, since she had seen him show restraint.

_Is this really the same boy who tried to strangle you, Sakura? Is this the boy who would have sliced your head open without a second thought? _

It was a line of questioning that bounced off the walls of her skull in the back of her mind, when she should have been focusing on what was going on in front of her.

"…but you have no evidence –_no evidence at all _– that action was taken without the approval of the Third!" Sakura heard Homura say, his tone one of self-righteous vindication. "Where is the proof that this was a conspiracy, Tsunade?"

"Even if we were involved in that…incident," Koharu added, "it would have been for the greater good. Do you think we would _ever _presume to go behind the Hokage's back, little Tsunade? You forget who you are talking to."

Sakura trembled with the indignity of it. Her uninjured hand curled into an angry fist where it rested on her knee, outraged on so many levels. How dare they talk to her mentor like that? How dare they stand in front of Konoha's shinobi and not only have the nerve to tell a bald-faced _lie_, but also to disrespect their Hokage so openly?

Despite her fondness for sake, her unfortunate gambling habits, her foul temper and propensity for violence, Tsunade was probably the strongest, bravest woman Sakura knew. She was a good teacher, a fantastic medic-nin and every inch the Hokage Konoha needed.

"Oh, really?"

Tsunade's reply was calm enough, but Sakura could tell by the tightness around her mouth that she was only barely holding back her legendary temper. Kakashi, who had been slouched against the wall near the doors, straightened and silently let himself out. Hardly anyone noticed, too busy reeling with the truth they had been presented with. Karin and Sasuke had both been called to testify; the clan leaders had all the evidence before them.

So that the Elders could exploit no loopholes, find no way to dig themselves out of the punishment they justly deserved, there was one last thing that had to be done. Sakura's heart sank as Kakashi returned a few minutes later with Endo Takumi in front of him, still clad in the chakra-draining manacles Tsunade had fitted him with in the early hours of the morning.

The Elders reaction was immediate; the moment the doors opened, all the colour drained out of their faces and Sakura knew then, that it was over.

"…W-who is that?"

For the first time since Tsunade revealed the reason for the Elders arrest, the crowd began to stir, their stunned silence broken by a collective intake of breath and the air filled with concerned murmuring.

Naruto's blond head was easily distinguishable among the multitude of faces and Sakura saw that he was watching the proceedings with solemn blue eyes. He – along with Ino, Shikamaru and Sai- was one of the few who stayed silent.

She fervently hoped that he would never find out how low she had sunk when she callously broke every single one of Endo-san's fingers. The anger she had felt in that moment scared her; before it had always been a hot, burning sensation that made her lash out blindly…but in Root's headquarters, she had just felt as though she was made up of cold, calculating edges.

"I think you know who this is," Tsunade said, a wintry smile on her lips, every inch the powerful Kage. "Endo Takumi, Danzou's successor. Why don't you tell everyone what you were up to last night?" she directed the latter part to the man himself. "No? I guess I'll have to ask my apprentice then. Sakura?"

Her mouth went dry as everyone's attention suddenly focused on her; Sakura had never really enjoyed being the one in the spotlight. When she was little, it was because she was shy and later, she dreaded it because it usually meant the mean girls in her class were teasing her about her forehead and it had never been in her nature to fight back. Sasuke had been the first person she ever wanted to _notice _her – to be aware of her presence in the room, the way she had always been aware of his. Even now, the only people whose attention she wanted were those whose opinions she deeply cared about; Naruto, Tsunade, Kakashi, Ino…

She wasn't sure if she wanted Sasuke to notice her anymore- for so long, her concerns for him had been about so much more than her own feelings.

As if aware of her discomfort, Shizune briefly patted her hand under the table – a wordless gesture of support and reassurance, like in her early days at the hospital when she would struggle to keep her eyes open during the late shift and Shizune would always bring her the good coffee from the staff lounge.

Slowly, awkwardly, Sakura stood, feeling the eyes of every living soul in the courtroom focused on her. She was suddenly ten times more aware of her own body; how her elbow pressed against her side as she shoved away from the table-top, the way her hair grazed the bare skin of her arms and the fact that she placed more weight on her left foot than her right.

Surreptitiously, she cleared her throat and turned to face the questioning gazes of the courtroom. She felt their eyes alight on her bruised jaw, her split lip, the arm that rested in a sling.

"Yesterday, Hokage-sama asked me to act as a decoy for one of the witnesses in this matter," she began, trying to imitate the brisk, business-like confidence she possessed when talking to her patients. "She feared that there might be…interference from the Council; that they might attempt through various means, to sabotage Karin's ability to testify against Konoha's higher-ups and the role they played in the massacre." Sakura bit her lip and winced as her teeth came into contact with the torn flesh. "I could describe to you what happened while I fulfilled my duty…or I could show you the events as I witnessed them."

It was a possibility Ino had put to her a few days ago, when they first formed the plan to infiltrate Root. In the weeks leading up to the war, her blonde best friend had sought Kurenai-sensei out in order to better her arsenal of genjutsu. That training had, Ino informed her, undoubtedly saved her life on the battlefield – but there was one particular genjutsu she'd learnt, that she believed could be useful in the trial.

"How?" Shikaku inquired, with a raised eyebrow. Sakura gestured towards the stands where Ino sat beside his son. A grim look of understanding passed between them.

"It is a simple genjutsu," Ino explained, looking pale and tired. Sakura wondered how much sleep she had gotten during the night; prolonged use of the Mind Body Switch jutsu took a lot out of her best friend. "When it is cast on an individual, it will get inside their head and show specific memories in a visual illusion. Originally, it was designed to confuse opponents by making them relive traumatic or unpleasant experiences, but in this case…"

The clan leaders exchanged glances with each other, apparently coming to a decision. It was Ino's father, Inoichi, who gave her the approval they needed. Sakura swallowed, her heart thrumming anxiously in her chest.

"Show us," he commanded and Ino nodded stiffly, descending the stairs to the front of the room. Sakura moved to meet her. Her palms were beginning to sweat.

"Sorry, Forehead," Ino murmured as she came to stand in front of her. Her blue eyes were wide and concerned; she knew Sakura too well. "Just- just concentrate on last night and shut everything else out, okay? You control the path of the genjutsu."

Sometimes it annoyed her how clever Ino could be; how her keen and perceptive mind could connect random dots and come up with the occasional flash of brilliance. The fact of the matter was that Sakura's head was no longer the secure place that it used to be; when he crawled through her mind, Madara had left something of a mess in his wake. Sakura hated to think what might bleed into the genjutsu if her concentration failed.

"I'm ready," she breathed and Ino nodded, her hands already forming the seals.

And then the world went dark. Just for a moment. It was like a blindfold came down over her eyes, as greedy hands reached inside her mind, pulling and searching and dragging her memories out in coloured tendrils, so that flashes of her past swam before her eyes in a constant stream.

With great difficulty, Sakura diverted the stream and directed it towards the memories she wanted, starting with her wait in an unfamiliar apartment.

There was a long pause - or perhaps it only seemed that way to her, stuck inside the confines of her own mind – and then she felt it take.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a red-headed kunoichi in a dark kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil. Judging by the curve of Ino's mouth, she guessed that everyone else could see it too.

* * *

Naruto saw it before anyone else did, except perhaps for Ino. He could barely watch the scenes playing out before him; no matter that it was an illusion, he knew that only a few hours ago, what he was seeing had been real. When Sakura was cornered, the tea cup crashing to the floor, his hands clenched into fists. When her arm was yanked behind her at an impossible angle and he heard the resounding snap of bone, his eyes darted to the real Sakura and the arm that rested in a sling. Something hot and bitter rose in his throat; his grip on Hinata's hand tightened convulsively but she didn't seem to mind.

"_You know why you're here, bitch?"_

The dark haired man Kakashi had dragged into the courtroom, Naruto noticed, watched the illusion- watched himself slap Sakura hard enough to make her spit blood – with the horror of someone who had just been caught in a nightmare that refused to end. It was obvious that he knew he had been caught red-handed.

"_I- I don't know what you're talking about! Please- I don't know!" _

"_You're named as a witness, kunoichi; you and that traitor, Uchiha Sasuke!"_

Naruto's eyes slid to Sasuke at the mention of his name, but all he could see was the back of his head and the tense line of his shoulders as he watched the illusion play out before him. Without seeing his expression, it was impossible for Naruto to be certain of what he was thinking and feeling.

"_Tell me what you told the Hokage that made her arrest the Council! Who else is plotting against them? Tell me and I might let you live after this is all over!"_

It stung, to know that this was what Sakura was going through while he sat around and did nothing; that she put herself in a dangerous situation without him to back her up.

"_Isn't that for Lady Tsunade to decide?_ _She's – she's the Hokage isn't she? I thought you were supposed to be on her side!"_

The unknown man – Endo Takumi, Tsunade baa-chan had called him- gave a chillingly bitter laugh that made Naruto flinch.

"_Tsunade is just a woman, little kunoichi. Tonight she might be Hokage, but by morning…"_

"…_.I see."_

He saw it then. Even as he was filled with a sudden fury against this man who had beaten Sakura and openly threatened to remove Tsunade from office, Naruto saw the change before the others.

Sat in the front row, Sasuke's intense gaze became too strong for Sakura to ignore, or at least, that was how it seemed to him – and involuntarily, she turned to see who was burning a hole in the side of her head.

Naruto saw it the moment his teammates gazes met – and whatever Sakura saw in Sasuke's eyes made her falter. It was in the widening of her green eyes, the smoothing out of her creased brow and the surprised parting of her mouth.

That was when the screaming started.

* * *

_A/n: So, this chapter was originally going to be a lot longer. Like, probably verging on 10, 000 words, which I'm sure you would have LOVED (haha, no), but I'm having issues with the next few scenes after this, so...Yeah. Since I'm off to University (OMGWTF? Where did my gap year go?) next week, there is no way I'm going to get those issues straightened out before then. I figured you'd rather have a shorter update, than wait another month or two for a longer one. Am I right? Too late now, I suppose..._

_(**SPOILER WARNING. Seriously, dude. If you're not up to speed with the latest manga releases, stop reading unless you want me to ruin stuff for you. I mean it.)**_

_1. KISHIMOTO ANSWERED MY PRAYERS! Who else was squealing like a six year old at chapter 553? SASUKE IS SO PRETTY ;) Also, also - Itachi pwned Naruto's jesus complex. BIG SMILES AT THAT._

_2. On a related note - after the massive high brought on by the end of 553, who else was MASSIVELY DISAPPOINTED BY 554? Kishimoto is such a bitch sometimes; he gives us that little glimpse of the Sauce coming out to play and then in the next chapter, he is nowhere to be seen. Anyone got any ideas of what they think will happen next? _

_3. Oh, I listened to the following tracks while writing this: _What the Water Gave Me _by _Florence and the Machine, Called Out in the Dark _by _Snow Patrol _and _You Found Me _by _The Fray. _Go listen to them, if you haven't already. _

_4. Also, if you noticed a rather monumental improvement in the standard of my writing, thank _Sakura's Unicorn, _who is amazing and awesome and very kindly offered her services as a beta for this fic. She kicks ass. _

_5. I've seen _Les Miserable _on stage in the West End. I AM NOW 5% MORE CULTURED THAN YOU. _

How was your summer?


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**notes: University = homesick. Also, also, ALSO THERE ARE 3 GUYS IN MY FLAT. THIS IS SO STRANGE AFTER LIVING WITH GIRLS ALL MY LIFE. **

**notes 2: most of this was written after I woke up with my face smushed into the keyboard of my laptop, head pounding and my hair sticky with alcohol from the night before. Nice. **

**Dedication: Sakura's Unicorn. She is my hero. **

* * *

Finally, Sasuke understood what Kakashi meant when he said the events from the night before would unfold in the trial. It was strange to watch the genjutsu play out and know that while he was bound to the apartment complex they shared, Sakura was right in the thick of things, entrusted with the details of the massacre by the Hokage and –dare he say it – actually doing something _important. _

Out of all the kunoichi who could have impersonated Karin, why was Sakura chosen? Why would she take such a mission on after trying to kill him? Sasuke could not understand her; in trying, his gaze became glued rigidly to the back of her skull, as if by merely looking hard enough, he could extract the answers he wanted and put the matter to rest.

"_Tsunade is just a woman, little kunoichi. Tonight she might be Hokage, but by morning…"_

It was Endo Takumi's words that made him realise for the first time, just what a gamble Tsunade had taken by endeavouring to serve the justice she had promised him. In an almost sickening contrast to all those years ago when he lost everything forever, the Hokage had put the welfare and honour of his clan before that of Konoha.

_If I had killed Naruto or Sakura, _he thought suddenly, _then this wouldn't be happening. _

Hatred had almost blinded him; in the murderous rage he directed at the world, he had almost thrown away the prospect of justice – real, honest, _honourable _justice.

As if compelled by the feel of his eyes on her, Sakura turned, their gazes meeting for the briefest of moments – a clash of startled green and Sharingan red.

Almost immediately, the illusion changed. The creatures that bled out into the air were twisted, nightmarish things with too many heads and ugly, jagged mouths that grinned. All the world washed to poisonous black, the ground was made sticky with some dark substance too thick and glutinous to be blood. There was agonised screaming and white noise echoing in the hall, or maybe in his head. The air smelt of blood and metal – above them all, the swirling tailed circles of the Mangekyo Sharingan spun sickeningly.

"Ino…" it was Sakura's pained moan that snapped Sasuke's horrified gaze away from the genjutsu. As he watched, she sank to her knees and pulled desperately at her pink hair, as if causing herself enough pain could banish the turmoil in her mind – for he had no doubt that the terrible illusion playing out in the air around them was a memory of the Tsukuyomi. He'd been trapped in it enough times to recognise the signs – but what the hell was it doing in _Sakura's_ head? Was it Madara's doing? Unwillingly, Sasuke recalled how Sakura looked covered in her own blood that day at the Alliance Base and how he felt almost sick to his stomach at the sight. The knowledge that the damage his ancestor had done to her went much deeper than physical injuries made him feel ashamed to possess the same technique.

"Ino, s-stop it!"

His eyes flickered to Yamanaka's frozen figure; she blinked slowly, as if she was coming out of a daze, her hands forming the seals that would release the genjutsu. Instantly, the illusion died away, like smoke dissipating on a sudden gust of wind and a tension he had not been aware of until that moment suddenly eased.

The room was completely silent; the only sound was his own startled heartbeat thudding inside his chest, like a hammer against cloth. Everyone's eyes were on Sakura's trembling figure, hunched on the floor with her vibrant hair hiding her face.

"I think you can put together what happened next," Ino was suddenly saying, crisp and confident, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Sasuke found it impossible to look away from the smaller girl; as he watched, Kakashi materialised by Sakura's side and hauled her gently to her feet and out of the spotlight. Her face was ashen, her green eyes clouded and unfocused as their old sensei led her to the small side door through which they entered the room at the beginning of the trial.

"A small team infiltrated Root and uncovered plans to overthrow Lady Hokage – plans instigated by the Council and Endo-san in the event that they would be arrested." Ino continued, looking each of the clan leaders in the eye as the door quietly closed. "If that isn't a conspiracy against the Hokage, I don't know what is."

Thick silence followed that statement - Ino's words hung heavy and unshakable on the air. Triumphantly, Sasuke noticed that even the Council had at long last turned mute, their eyes dull and resigned. There was nothing they could say now to excuse or defend themselves - no possible way that their crimes could be ignored or justified. He felt only the slightest trace of unease that the situation had been so much more volatile than he had realised while he was shut up in his apartment. "The Council and Endo Takumi planned to instigate a coup d'etat to prevent you all from learning the truth about the murder of the esteemed Uchiha clan and the late Uchiha Itachi." Tsunade's careful enunciation of each word, made the statement all the more chilling. "Almost ten years ago, they went behind the Sandaime Hokage's back and ordered a thirteen-year-old boy to murder every single member of his family to 'save' Konoha. Is this right?" she demanded, her eyes hard and gleaming. "Will you allow a crime like that to go unpunished?"

For a long, long moment, the silence continued and Sasuke thought it would stretch out forever.

"No."

The word was unanimously and simultaneously spoken. It shattered the silence with the force of a bomb and Sasuke couldn't help but think of ice cracking under the weight of a stone. His head whipped up without his permission to stare at the clan leaders, watching each of their faces with an intensity that made his eyes burn. He almost couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"The murder of one of our own clans is a crime that cannot be forgiven," Shikaku said in his slow, measured way. His eyes were hard. There was not a shred of doubt on any of their faces.

"Then what do you and the clan leaders propose, Nara Shikaku?" Tsunade asked. "What price would you have them pay?"

They all exchanged a look that spoke volumes in a language Sasuke had never really had a chance to learn. It was stern and commanding and solemn all at once. For a moment, he could not help but think of his father.

"Death," Hyuga Hiashi said.

* * *

Kakashi looked over at his female student, concern lodged in his gut like a stone. Her eyes had lost the wide, staring quality that had unnerved him so; he had seen that look on men and women before and it never boded well. Seeing it on Sakura was wrong, he thought, but it reminded him all too vividly of that day when she woke up from her coma, wild-eyed and hysterical with no idea who or where she was. He had known then that she would never be quite the same as she was. No one was quite the same after entering the Tsukuyomi and Madara was the oldest Uchiha in the world- he'd had a long time to perfect the technique.

"I'm alright, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said quietly from where she sat on the windowsill, her hands tucked beneath her thighs. Her head was bowed, but at least she was no longer shaking.

"Yes," he agreed, "but until Hokage-sama has had a good look at you, you're going to stay put."

He saw her scowl and resisted the urge to chuckle. Absently, he pulled his favourite book from one of his many pockets and slouched against the wall.

"You're not usually this bossy."

"Well," Kakashi drawled, not looking up, "I have this student- a terrifying female, always bossing around her teammates- and she's a bad influence on me, Sakura-chan."

He couldn't help but be amused as Sakura's scowl deepened, obviously irritated she had nothing to throw at him. He thought it prudent to hide behind _Icha Icha Tactics _for a moment or two_._

"I am _not_ bossy!"

Perhaps she would never be quite the same, but that wasn't to say that Sakura would never recover from what Madara had done to her. People's truest, deepest natures never fully changed or disappeared; even Sasuke, who he had fully believed was lost to darkness, had come through in the end. In all the ways that mattered, Sakura would always be herself.

"I think Naruto would have to disagree with that statement," he told her, turning the page of his book. As Sakura muttered something distinctly mutinous, he added, "You do realise he's going to be fussing over you for days now, don't you?"

"He's not going to be very happy with me," she agreed listlessly, picking at the hem of her flak jacket with one hand. "Shikamaru told me that Naruto came crashing in on our operation last night and almost ruined everything."

She looked troubled by it and recalling the hyperactive blond's desperation as he rushed blindly into the foray the previous evening, Kakashi thought he had an idea why.

"No one thinks you're weak," he said, hoping his intuition was correct; he had never been particularly good at understanding the female mind and Sakura was no exception. He cared about her as equally as he did her male teammates, but she was infinitely harder to understand. When she was twelve and thirteen he had, he now knew, inadvertently neglected her training because he was trying so hard to compensate for the fundamental thing that Naruto and Sasuke lacked; parental guidance.

_Rin would have been a better sensei, _he thought, remembering her kind and nurturing personality. Her quiet dedication and perceptive nature would have been more effective in uniting and keeping a team like his together. Even Obito would've done better – a persistent idiot like his best friend would never have left Sasuke alone that fateful day when everything changed.

"Naruto knows you can look after yourself."

"Then why," Sakura asked, her eyes downcast, "is he always trying to save me? He's always trying to save _everyone. _Just once, I wish he would realise that he doesn't have to do everything by himself."

Kakashi just shook his head and sighed, thinking of his yellow-haired sensei and his selfless regard for his comrades. There were some things in life, he mused, that were just out of their hands.

There was nothing he could say to Sakura that would reassure her, so instead he said, "Put yourself in his shoes. How would you react if you thought one of your precious people was in danger?"

He couldn't help but nod to himself as she pressed her lips together. She was still too pale.

"Let me go back, Kaka-sensei," she begged suddenly, eyes glistening. "Please."

It was a pity, he thought, running a hand through his unruly silver hair; Kakashi knew how hard Sakura had worked over the last seven weeks, how much time she put into this case. She deserved to see the outcome of her labour.

"Sorry, Sakura," he said, the sound of footsteps reaching his ears. She looked so battered – so very tired. She deserved to see the Elders being condemned, but for once Kakashi would do what was best for her, instead of settling for trying to make her happy.

Someone knocked on the door and he moved to open it, pleased to see Yamanaka Inoichi on the other side, grim-faced, but prepared.

"Kakashi-san," the tall, blond man greeted, passing him to enter the room. His eyes came to rest on Sakura with familial affection and, dimly, Kakashi recalled that Inoichi's daughter was Sakura's childhood friend.

"Hello, Sakura-chan," Inoichi said kindly. "Hokage-sama sent me – I think you know why."

She nodded stiffly. "Yes."

Silently, Kakashi moved to slouch against the wall so that he was out of the way. His gaze remained fixed on the page, unmoving.

"You might be more comfortable lying down," the older man told her and obediently, Sakura hopped up from her spot on the windowsill to lie down on the long table in the middle of the room.

Inoichi stood over her, apologetic and professional as he placed his hands on her temples.

"I'm sorry," he said. "For this examination to be effective, you must be completely open, Sakura-chan. No locked doors. No hiding anything."

Sakura's lips thinned at the prospective of such a thorough invasion of her privacy – the complete and utter invasion of the mind was something that made even the strongest of nin anxious- but Kakashi was proud that she did not flinch.

"Tell me," she said quietly instead. "What was the verdict?"

Inoichi smiled down at her gently as Kakashi looked up from his book, almost as desperate to hear the outcome as his female student.

"You don't have to worry about that," the leader of the Yamanaka clan told her firmly. "You know there is only one punishment for betrayal of that magnitude. You kids did well."

For a moment, Sakura allowed herself a relieved, if slightly bitter smile and closed her eyes.

"Thank you, Inoichi-san," she murmured and Kakashi knew she was referring to the verdict rather than the compliment. "I'm ready now."

"Then let us begin."

* * *

The sun hung low in the sky when the doors to the courtroom opened for a final time and its occupants spilled out into the fading glow of the afternoon daylight, a crowd fanning outwards from the doors.

It seemed to Sasuke that time, in those last few minutes, slowed for him to take in every tiny detail. As the Elders and Endo Takumi were dragged away, pale-faced and with defeat sagging in every line of their slack bodies, he felt startlingly, frighteningly empty. Numb, almost. He lost sight of them in the stirring crowd.

Tsunade stood tall and regal beneath the traditional garb of the Hokage, a clear dismissal to the assembled court. The air seemed full of bustling movement, hundreds of people standing and shuffling towards the doors in a steady stream. Sasuke didn't move. He felt like he was watching the scene from outside his own body- that he was disconnected from himself somehow. For a brief second, he felt that he had become one with the ghosts that had haunted his steps since he was seven years old – that there was nothing tying him to the ground and he could simply drift into oblivion, joining his loved ones at last and never being parted from them again.

"Oi, Uchiha!"

Of course, no matter how deep one's state of shock, there were always some people who were impossible to ignore. For some reason, Sasuke mused absently as he looked up at the Hokage beckoning him, they always seemed to be blond.

Numbly, he dragged himself to his feet and fought his way through the crowd to the white-robed figure watching him with triumphant eyes. Her dark-haired assistant – a woman who looked perpetually anxious – hovered beside her, a stack of folders in her arms.

Sasuke just stared at her and waited, too stunned to even bother with a grouchy "What?"

"Come with me," she snapped, turning on her heel and heading towards a previously unnoticed door that was situated right behind her throne-like podium.

"BAA-CHAN!"

_And there's the other one, _he thought, almost snorting derisively, despite himself. He watched, dazed and a little bemused, as the Hokage rounded on the blond barrelling his way towards them, all the dignity of her position abandoning her as Tsunade yelled, "Don't call me baa-chan, brat!"

"But-but," Naruto staggered to a halt just short of crashing into Sasuke's back, obviously in a state of intense agitation. "Where'd Sakura-chan go? Is she okay? Is she hurt? _What happened?" _

Sasuke stilled for a moment, his eyes darting between the two blond's. They were questions that he, too, would like to hear the answers for.

If the Hokage had scowled and told Naruto to beat it in her usual abusive manner, he would in all likeliness have dismissed the matter the dobe had raised from his mind - but she didn't. Instead, Tsunade seemed to deflate, her expression resigned.

"We are not talking about this here," she said, taking the monstrous Hokage hat from her head and letting it dangle by her side between her fingers. "Come on. You too, Naruto. God forbid I let you run amok when you're this hyped up. The villagers would lynch me."

Unsmiling, she waved them through the door into a long, dark corridor that Sasuke had never seen before, though he had the general idea that it led to the Hokage palace. He was proved correct when they emerged onto one of the curved corridors that he recognised from near Tsunade's office. The Hokage led them to her office in silence; beside him, Naruto walked with his head bowed, a nervous energy in his steps replacing his usual boisterous strut. The dark-haired assistant disappeared without him noticing.

"Let's make this brief, shall we?" Tsunade sank into the chair behind her desk and flung the ceremonial hat across the room. Naruto's eyes followed its trajectory with unrestrained longing.

Sasuke had to try hard not to snort as she planted her feet on her desk and started rummaging through the drawers for something. He had a strong suspicion that _something_ was a sake bottle.

"So, Uchiha," she said, still occupied with her search. "Your house arrest is up. Congratulations."

Looking at the bags under her eyes, he thought it would be best to stay safely silent. Naruto could talk more than enough for the both of them in any case.

Instead, he considered the sunlight streaming through the panoramic window- how it was soft and golden as an apple. For the first time in years, he could _feel_ the warmth from that light on his skin – could feel it soaking slowly beneath the surface to the bones that lay beneath.

"That's great, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, excitement lighting up his features. "You can finally get out of that craphole apartment- Oh! Oh! We can go to Ichiraku's! I bet you haven't had a _real _bowl of ramen in years-"

He was abruptly silenced by the penetrating look Tsunade shot him, for which Sasuke was thankful. The prospect of options – of having the freedom to wander the village as he pleased – was almost staggering after weeks in seclusion between the same pale walls. When he made the decision to return to Konohagakure, all his focus had been on restoring his clan's and Itachi's honour; on seeking justice on their behalf. He had never given any real consideration to what he would do afterwards; every day had been taken one minute at a time.

As if she knew this, Tsunade added, "You are, however, still on probation. It's up to you what you do from this point out – your good behaviour in the last seven or so weeks, is working in your favour. If you wish it," she said slowly, watching him with steady eyes, "the option of being reinstated as a shinobi of Konoha is open to you."

The numbness that had enveloped him was rapidly falling away, leaving Sasuke feeling deeply unsettled. Become a Konohagakure shinobi? Could he do that? Could he actively serve the village that had ordered his clan's demise again?

There was silence in the office and he hardly dared to glance in Naruto's direction. Even without looking at him, he could feel the sudden surge of hope coming off him in waves – a hope so strong that it appeared to have rooted the blond in place.

"And what about Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked finally, breaking the thick silence that had crept up in the room. "You haven't said anything about her."

Sasuke noticed that she had that curious look about her again, as though a shutter had passed over her face. Looking away from them, she poured herself a drink and stashed the clay sake bottle back in the desk drawer.

"Naruto," she started, sounding almost tentative. "Has Sakura talked to you at all about what happened when she came across Uchiha Madara?"

Obviously startled, Naruto stuttered with wide eyes, "N-no. But – but that doesn't have anything to do with what happened today…does it?"

"It has everything to do with it," she said, propping her chin up on clasped hands. "Madara got inside her mind with the Tsukuyomi-"

"And he tortured her." In the sudden silence, it took Sasuke a moment to realise that it was he, not Naruto, who had spoken. The words had slipped out of their own volition; the realisation made him feel like there was ice flooding through his veins.

"Yes," Tsunade said haltingly. "What you saw in the courtroom today was just a taste of the mess Madara left behind in her head."

"But she'll be okay, right?" the blond demanded. "Right, baa-chan?"

"Sakura will be fine," she assured him, but Sasuke noticed her gaze was focused on a spot just to the left of Naruto's ear, instead of his eyes. "I've asked Yamanaka Inoichi to take a look inside her head and assess the severity of the trauma; it's only because of the Elders that the examination got pushed back this long."

"I want to see her," Naruto said immediately, leaning forward and bracing his arms on the desk with the sort of single-minded intensity he was famous for. When he gave people that look, it was almost impossible to deny him anything. Sasuke was not surprised then that after giving him a long measured glance, Tsunade nodded.

"Fine. Wait until Yamanaka-san is done before you go bursting in like a reckless idiot."

It was a clear dismissal, but for Sasuke, he felt like he'd come to the end of a long, twisted rope and been left hanging. Where did he go from here?

The trial had taken all his focus in the wake of his decision to return. Now that it was over, what did he have left to aim for? It felt so…strange and unnatural to feel so adrift when, for as long as he could remember, he had been singularly driven by goals and ambitions that claimed his entire life. Was this what it felt like to be lost?

"Let's go, bastard!"

In another fit of despondency, Sasuke moved on auto-pilot and he was halfway down the corridor before he realised he was following Naruto blindly.

_Where am I going? _he wondered vaguely, coming back to himself and his surroundings. His footsteps slowed in his uncertainty.

_Where _are _you going, little brother? _The voice was back. _Now that you've got justice for us, will you stay in Konoha and make peace with its shinobi? Or will you run away again? _

"Sasuke?"

"_What?" _he snapped. He watched as Naruto's words died in his throat, his mouth closing as he swallowed and felt an unwanted sting of remorse. Gritting his teeth, he looked away.

"I'm gonna go see Sakura-chan," he said quietly. "You should come, too."

"No."

The betrayal in Naruto's expression almost immediately gave way to one of incredulous disbelief. His eyes blazed across the space between them.

"What d'you mean _no_? Sakura's our teammate- our _friend_! She'd want us to go-"

"She's _your _teammate," Sasuke corrected him, suddenly angry. How dare the blond lecture him so condescendingly? "_Your _friend. Not mine."

Perhaps they had been once, in those long ago days when Sakura looked at him like he was the most important thing in her world, before he left and she took it upon herself to try and kill him. So she claimed she never _wanted _him dead – what of it? What did that even mean?

"Are you kidding me?" the other boy yelled at him. "Seriously, I want to know. How can you even say that after all Sakura's done for you?"

That was the last straw. Sasuke rounded on him, feeling that familiar and irritating itch that meant his Sharingan was on the verge of bleeding to the surface.

"She's done nothing! She's not my friend and she's not my teammate – she's made that fucking clear! And you know what? I don't give a damn-"

Naruto moved so fast, he became an orange-coloured blur in the air. Sickening pain flared across the bridge of Sasuke's nose and his head cracked back against the wall as the blond boy sent him flying back, practically lifted off his feet by the force behind the punch Naruto delivered to his face.

"What the hell was that for?"

"You're such a _bastard, _Sasuke! Don't you know anything? Don't you know how much trying to assassinate you almost killed her? Do you think that having to make that decision hasn't haunted her ever since? Sakura's a mess, even without the mindfuck Madara gave her – and she's still spent the last seven weeks running herself into the ground with that bloody investigation, so that you would get justice for your clan!"

Even with blood running down his face, hot and sticky against his skin, the world stilled dangerously, all his attention caught by those last few words. For a moment, Sasuke even forgot the white-hot pain of his broken nose – he straightened, looming over the blond by only a few inches. There wasn't that much of a difference in their height anymore, he realised in some absent part of his mind; at some point in the years apart, Naruto had shot up like a runner bean.

"_What did you just say?" _

His voice was dark and gravelly, meant to intimidate, but Naruto did not quail when others would have. Instead, he gazed back at him fearlessly, only fierce indignation present in the depths of his sky-blue eyes.

Sasuke ignored the small stab of relief that came with knowing there was at least one person in the world who was never scared of him.

"I said, you're a bastard."

"After that, dobe," Sasuke hissed, raising a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose to stop the blood flow. He could taste where it had stained his lips, sharp and metallic. Bitter.

The look that came over Naruto's face was one of sudden enlightenment – and Sasuke hated it.

"You-you didn't know, did you?" he asked wonderingly and Sasuke was reminded suddenly of another person who had posed that question, only hours ago.

"_You don't know, do you?" _Karin had demanded of him, but all he had been able to think then was that it sounded like yet another secret being kept from him – more lies in the dark.

"Sasuke," Naruto said, calling him back to the present and looking at him almost pityingly. "Didn't Sakura-chan tell you? She's the one who lead the investigation into the Council of Elders."

* * *

Night had fallen on Konoha like a blanket, the darkness thick and comforting. Ino was drunk.

"Go 'way, Shikamaru," she moaned, resting her head on the cool surface of the bar. It was damp and sticky with the residue of spilt alcohol and the scent of it stung her nose - not that it bothered her. The world was an ocean swimming in her ears and Ino was so tired, she barely noticed it. She could happily fall asleep right there, if only her bothersome teammate would leave her alone.

"You're drunk," Shikamaru's voice accused and she frowned, not opening her eyes. She felt like they were glued shut.

"Well spotted," she mumbled. "Guess they don't call you a genius for nothing…"

"And you're an idiot."

She sighed and cracked an eye open, discerning only coloured blurs around her. "Only just realised that?"

Hands made themselves known on her back and behind her knees. The world tilted rather suddenly and her stomach churned.

"Put me down, Shika," she moaned, a glimpse of dark ceiling forcing her to squinch her eyes shut again. She buried her face in the nape of his neck and breathed in slowly. "S'making me sick…"

"You puke on me, I'll drop you," Shikamaru warned, patient long-suffering evident in his voice. Even in her state, Ino could tell he was inwardly cursing the day he met her. "Just keep it down till I get you home. Okay, Ino?"

She shook her head mulishly. "Don't wanna go home."

The shock of cool air told her they had left the bar and in the quiet, she focused only on her own quiet heartbeat- how fragile its life really was. Tears were already starting to leak from beneath her closed eyelids, soaking into the neckline of his mesh vest.

"Oh geez," Shikamaru sighed, sounding put-upon and his footsteps began to slow, as if he was looking for something. "You know I can't deal with crying females."

"Shut up."

The world moved around her without her consent and Ino found herself righted on a stone bench, pressed into Shikamaru's side. He was very warm, she noticed – warm and solid and _alive. _

"What's the matter?" he asked quietly, his face close by her ear. She could feel his breath on her skin, one of his hands twined gently in her hair. "Ino?"

A sob erupted from her chest. Sometimes drinking really was a bad idea; if she'd had Sakura with her tonight, she might've been able to keep a better grip on it, but she'd disappeared before the trial had even ended.

Ino mumbled something incoherent, beginning to hiccup.

"What? Ino?"

"I said," she sobbed, shoulders shaking, "why did he have to die?"

Immediately, Shikamaru stiffened, but he didn't pull away for once. "You're talking about Asuma-sensei."

Wordlessly, she nodded into his shoulder- the words were out there now; she could not take them back, but that was one of the joys of being drunk. In all likeliness, Ino knew she would regret this conversation in the morning, but she could not seem to make herself care.

"Why did he have to die?" she demanded, hysteria in her voice. Oh, theatrics. "I mean, die again. He was right there and talking to us and-and fighting and we could have _saved _him. We could have. There had to be another way. Why did we have to see him die again? Why did we have to see him again, only to say goodbye a second time? It's not fair! _It's not fair!" _

On the battlefield, she was strong. It was always in the aftermath that Ino fell apart, though usually, she was better at hiding it. She had loved her sensei and he had been brutally, cruelly stolen from them. Forever, she had thought.

To see Asuma again in those circumstances had hurt more than anything in her life – almost more than when he had died. It should have been different – he should have been alive and well and a father to Kurenai-sensei's baby. Watching him die was one thing, but to have to end him again themselves had broken something in her.

"I know," Shikamaru said quietly. "It isn't fair at all, Ino."

With wet cheeks, she heaved a great, shuddering sigh. The night was vast and endless around them and Ino could have fallen asleep for all she knew.

"I miss him," she admitted, in a mumble at some point and when Shikamaru's arm tightened around her shoulders, she knew he felt the same. Around them the night air was cool, carrying the faint scent of wood chippings and timber on the slow breeze. The sky was endless – and Ino felt very small beneath its infinite vastness, just an insignificant blot beneath the whole of time.

"We all do," Shikamaru said.

* * *

She rose up out of the dark with a head that pounded fit to burst, disorientated and confused. The last thing Sakura could remember was closing her eyes in the waiting room near the shinobi court -and yet, unless she was mistaken, the ceiling above her was her own.

The lights were off in her apartment and the sky outside was black as pitch, indicating quite some time had passed since Ino's father made an excursion inside her mind – a process in which she had, apparently, become insensible to the world. She felt hot – stifled. Someone had tucked her into bed without removing her shoes and she kicked the covers off, sluggishly pushing herself into a sitting position. Though she'd done nothing physically exerting that day, her bones felt like they'd been turned to liquid. Her bedroom window was thrown wide open, turning her room cold with the night air. Impatiently, she flicked the bedside lamp on and moved to the window so she could feel the breeze on her face. She could hear the sounds of drunken laughter in the distance.

_I was supposed to be going out with Ino tonight, _she remembered with a jolt, bringing her head forward to lean against the window pane. _I hope she isn't mad…._

A flutter of paper caught her ears and she turned, a note taped to her bedroom mirror catching her eye.

_Sakura-chan,_

_Yamanaka-san's examination left you unconscious, so I took the liberty of dropping you home, anticipating that you would rather wake up in your own bed than in the hospital. You will be expected to report to Hokage-sama for the results in the morning, before noon. _

_Make sure you eat something before going back to sleep. _

_Kakashi-sensei_

She couldn't help the small smile that flitted across her lips, despite the embarrassing thought of being carried across Konoha's rooftops like a ragdoll.

Running a hand through her hair, she padded towards the kitchen, intent on making herself a cup of tea. Someone, she realised then, healed her shoulder while she was out of it – she had a strong feeling Shizune paid her a visit before her sensei brought her home.

"Maybe I'll buy her some flowers," she mused, as the kettle boiled. She would certainly be treating Ino, Shikamaru and Sai to a dinner someday soon for their help with the investigation. She would never have been able to manage it by herself.

Remembering the conviction, it felt as if a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders; as if a voice inside her head, pushing her relentlessly forward, had finally been silenced.

Someone knocked on her door and she almost dropped the tea cup in surprise. Setting it down carefully on the counter, she hurried to the door.

_It's probably Naruto, _she thought a little guiltily. _I hate to think how must've he reacted today…_

An apology already forming on her lips, Sakura flung the door open- but it wasn't Naruto waiting on the other side.

"S-Sasuke?" In her surprise, his name came out as a stutter and she felt her cheeks start burning. She had _stuttered. _Sakura hadn't stuttered around a boy since she was twelve years old!

Admittedly, she thought, the blush darkening, that boy had been Sasuke…

"What are you doing here?" she asked, clearing her throat hastily. Then she caught a better look at him and the words were out before she could help herself. "What happened to your _face_?"

She wasn't sure which was more intimidating, Sasuke's peeved expression, or the blood crusted around his nose where someone had clearly punched him in the face hard enough to break bone. In light of his surprising injuries, it was easier to push aside the memory of his glowing red eyes; but of course, it was not Sasuke's Sharingan that she was afraid of.

"You didn't tell me," he said instead of answering her and she saw that behind the blood and bruising, his eyes were dark - not bottomless as they had been before, but somewhat unfamiliar to her. She still wasn't sure who was looking out at her from them.

Sakura swallowed hard. "I don't know what-"

"About the trial," he all but snarled. "The Elders. How you ran the investigation. You didn't tell me."

"Oh."

There was an accusation there, she was certain, but the days had come and gone when she was able to read what was going on underneath. She weighed her next words very carefully, hesitant and unsure.

"I was just making some tea," she said haltingly, almost a question.

For a long moment, he didn't move. But when Sasuke passed through the door into the hall, her heart almost stopped, her breath catching in her throat. She could smell him; a strange mixture of blood and something decidedly masculine. It wasn't the same scent that she remembered.

Part of her couldn't believe that he was really standing here, in her apartment, after so many long years of absence. After he tried to kill her.

There was so much that was wrong and right with the situation. She felt like he would vanish if she looked away from him for even a moment.

Was this dark-haired wraith before her the boy she fell so irrevocably in love with? Or was he the monster who had turned bloody eyes on her, seeing only an enemy where there used to be friendship?

_Or perhaps, _a voice in her head spoke up, _he is neither. Not Uchiha Sasuke, member of Akatsuki, but not Sasuke-kun either. _But in the end, weren't they both the same person?

Silently, she poured him a cup which he made no move to take. Feeling her ears burn, she placed it on the counter beside him and tried not to retreat from the force of his gaze. Her head hurt.

"Naruto told you," she guessed, thinking of the blond boy and trying not to frown. Not that it was a secret of course, but she had a feeling her friend had been particularly blunt. She also had a feeling Sasuke's bloody face had a lot to do with the revelation.

He said nothing, only watched her with hard, black eyes. Sakura busied herself with her tea, cupping it in her hands and focusing only on the warmth that it provided.

"It was not…" she started, trying to think of a way to explain without making herself vulnerable. "It was not my intention to keep this from you. Given the circumstances, I thought…"

She was definitely making this harder on herself. She hated the way he just watched her babble without saying anything. In the past his bluntness had stung her sometimes, but this apathy was almost more cutting.

"I tried to kill you," she said lamely. "I didn't want that fact to make you doubt Tsunade-shishou's intentions, or the credibility of the investigation."

_Please believe me, _she thought pleadingly. _Please._

She wondered if they would ever be able to go back to being friends, or if he even wanted to. Sakura had missed him so much during the past three years that it amounted to a physical ache inside her. He was standing right in front of her, more damaged and more beautiful than ever and she was _still_ missing him.

"Why did you do it?" he asked finally and she sensed that perhaps this was the answer he most wanted to hear - and there were so many that she could give.

_Because Tsunade asked me to. _

_Because Naruto will be Hokage one day and I don't ever want him to have to deal with a council like that one. _

_Because it was the right thing to do. _

_Because, after everything, your family deserved their justice._

_Because your brother was a victim, too. _

_Because I still love you, Sasuke._

"Do you remember," Sakura asked instead of saying any of those equally true answers, "what I said to you the night you left?"

She saw in the startled widening of his eyes that he did, but Sakura was not referring to her screamed love confession. That was something she would rather he forget.

"I promised you once that I would do anything to help you. It took a long time," she said, her voice surprisingly even, "but I keep my promises, Sasuke." _Always. _

There was so much that she wanted to say to him, to ask – seeing him before her like this, Sakura was finally beginning to comprehend that Sasuke was in Konoha. He was home, so close that she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. She didn't. Instead she curled her fingers tighter around her teacup and tried not to stare at him- tried not to regret that sliver of honesty she had given him. After all, she had lied to him once and where had that gotten her? Nothing good had come out of that encounter in the Land of Iron. Somehow, she had to learn to find a middle ground.

"You should be frightened of me," he said at last, watching her with still eyes and she wondered at the strange note in his voice she could not decipher. Still, she thought she understood what he meant; Sasuke had always had a keen mind. How much, exactly, did he know? What had Tsunade told him?

"You should know me better than that," she reminded him, very softly. "You startled me in the hospital but…Sasuke, I have never been _truly _frightened of you."

Even at the height of his insanity, Sakura had not feared him. She had only ever feared _for _him – and with good reason. She had seen a glimpse of something twisted and dark in the Forest of Death all those years ago – a creature that was more Orochimaru than Sasuke; something savage and cruel and without mercy. She had saved him from it once, but ever since that day, it had seemed to her that he had only ever taken strides to embrace that darkness. The very real possibility that he might lose himself inside it had been the source of her nightmares for years.

He did not touch the steaming tea at his side, but something in his posture seemed to loosen ever so slightly, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his dark nin-pants. There was arrogance and grace in his stance – and a strange sort of languid carelessness in the set of his shoulders that reminded her of Kakashi.

"You're still annoying."

_Even after all this time, you're still annoying…._

That word had hurt her once, but with all the years between her sixteen and thirteen-year-old selves, it came as more of a distant and loving memory than the pointed insult it had once been. It made her a little sad in some ways – but in another, it came as something of a relief.

"Always," she said and though nothing more was said, it somehow felt as though her kitchen was a stage on which the curtain had just fallen; the conversation had come to an end.

Silently, Sasuke moved down the hallway to the front door, all pale skin and dark shadows. Sakura followed, still cradling the teacup in her hands, feeling increasingly as though she was waking from a strange and bewildering dream.

The door opened and Sasuke half inclined his head toward her, his long bangs falling into his eyes. Her fingers itched to push them back.

"Thank you," he murmured, in a voice softer than she thought him capable of anymore. He let himself out and the words hovered in the air between them, mixing with the rush of air they had elicited from her startled lungs.

Slowly, Sakura leaned forwards until her forehead touched upon the cold, hard wood of the front door, thinking only of the boy on the other side. Her heart palpitated wildly in her chest, growing, shrinking, bursting until it was almost painful to breathe. She closed her eyes and admitted the very thing she had been fighting against for weeks to the cool night air, the vast empty sky.

"….I'm sorry."

* * *

_A/n: My gosh, this is such a beast of a chapter. It's HUGE. (Also, there may be a tiny spoiler in point numero 3. You have been warned.)_

_1. So fresher's fortnight. The only outcome is a massive loss of dignity. NEVER AGAIN. _

_2. I COME HOME TO FIND MY BABY SISTER HAS STOLEN ALL OF MY SPARE PYJAMAS. WHAT IS THIS MONSTROSITY? Also, I think I'm coming down with the flu :(_

_3. WHERE THE HELL IS SASU-CHAN? WHERE? I DON'T CARE ABOUT GAARA'S KAGE FIGHT. SURE HE'S ALL CUTE AND REFORMED BUT I'D RATHER SEE WHAT SASUKE IS UP TO. GAWD, KISHIMOTO. GAWD. _

_4. So...I have a lot left that I want to do with this, but I think the TBE needs to end soon. SEQUEL ANYONE? Think of it as like...a part 2 actually. Yes? No? WOULD YOU READ IT?_

_5. Started writing RinShiemi from Blue Exorcist. THEY ARE MY NEW OTP. _

_I honestly have no idea when the next chapter will be out. I really don't. For the first time in about a year, my life consists of more than work, writing and Naruto releases every wednesday. _

_There you go, Whitney Rockafella - I promised you this one would have SasuSaku interaction, didn't I? :)_


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**As ever my thanks go to _Sakura's Unicorn, _for her time, effort and invaluable input. I think you are a thousand types of awesome and I'm pretty sure everyone agrees with me. If you haven't checked out her amazing story _Look Underneath _yet, DO IT NOW. **

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and early, rays of golden sunlight breaking over Konoha's rooftops in a sudden stream. Sakura watched the world come alive with tired eyes. The night had passed slowly — for hours she had not slept. All her thoughts were consumed by the look in Sasuke's dark eyes as he stood in her kitchen, his quiet "thank you" replaying in her mind over and over again. Each recollection sent a thrill of skittish energy through her veins.

"Stop that," she told herself, both annoyed and exasperated at how her body betrayed her. It was just two words, two insignificant little words. In the grand scheme of things, how much did they really matter?

In her heart of hearts, Sakura knew why she would continue to dwell on such a small gesture; she had long ago found that a "thank you" from Sasuke meant more to her than a "thank you" from anyone else.

_I'm falling back into bad habits, _she admitted, as she let herself out of her apartment and into the bustling activity of Konoha's streets. _I have to stop thinking like this_

She forced herself, as she did every time she left the building, not to take the stairs, not to pause for several painful moments outside the Uchiha's door. Taking to the window and fleeing down the wall was so much easier. Sakura was on the verge of doing her usual number and speeding across the rooftops — all her thoughts preoccupied with more important things — but the sunlight took her by surprise. She faltered and touched down on the ground, the impact stinging up through the soles of her feet.

It was a warm, pleasant morning and the sky was an endless blue. After so many days and weeks spent sitting in a darkened, windowless room, the brightness was dazzling.

_I should have time to stop in at the archive room before Tsunade asks for me, _she thought, her mind automatically drawing up its daily to-do-list. _Then I can spend the rest of the day sorting the files for Shikamaru to sort through and Ino still needs to co-ordinate with Sai- _

She stopped short, her mind grinding to a halt as she was struck with the sudden realisation that _no, _she didn't have to go to the archive room. The files had already been sorted and dispatched. Ino and Sai no longer needed to co-ordinate because the trial was _done. _

Aside from her meeting with the Hokage, Sakura's day was her own.

A breathy laugh escaped her then and she looked up and around her with new eyes. How long had it been since she'd had a day to herself?

The morning sun was warm on her skin and all around her was the cheerful chatter of civilians going about their business, shopping baskets in hands, small children trailing behind their mothers and trying to hide behind their skirts. She could smell summer in the air — heat and trees and grilled yakitori. Inhaling deeply, her stomach chose that moment to grumble insistently.

"Well, why not?" she mumbled to herself, feet following the enticing smell of sizzling meat. Racking her brain to recall when she'd last eaten, her mind came up blank. How many meals had she inadvertently skipped or missed over the last seven or so weeks?

"Can I help you, miss?" the stand vendor asked, jerking Sakura back to the situation at hand.

"Two sticks, please," she ordered, handing over the right money. Her mouth watered as her food was passed carefully over the counter.

"Have a nice day now," the man told her with a smile. "Market day always produces good deals for pretty faces like yours."

"Market day?" she repeated, feeling the beginnings of a flush begin at the compliment. How could she have lost track of time so badly? It had been months since she'd been able to look around the stalls properly — before Pein's invasion, even. Before the friendly vendor had a chance to answer, the next customer had moved forward to place their order and Sakura moved hastily away from the counter.

She bit into her first yakitori almost in a daze, feeling as though she was waking up from a long and tiring dream. While she had buried herself in trials and conspiracies and the darkness of Konoha's roots, the village had come back to life. The air no longer smelled of wood chippings and sawdust and the streets were no longer full of the sound of hammering. How had she not noticed before?

Still wondering at her own obliviousness to daily life, Sakura drifted towards the colourful stalls that began further down the street, seized with the sudden impulse to _shop. _She knew she was due at Tsunade's office soon, but faced with pretty silk scarves and an assortment of interesting scrolls, Sakura couldn't help herself.

_Ino would be proud, _she thought with a smile. Maybe she would stop by the shop later and apologise for unintentionally standing her up the night before. Maybe they would both go out for a girly lunch together, like they used to. The thought filled her with a sudden warmth that she was startled to realise was _happiness. _

"Hey! Sakura-chan!"

Naruto's loud yell interrupted her musings. She barely had time to turn her head in the direction of his voice before she saw a flash of blond, and felt a pair of powerful arms surround her and lift her off her feet.

"Naruto!" she shouted, as he spun her around. "What-"

"Are you okay?" he demanded, pulling her close until all she could see was blond hair and a whiskered cheek, the smell of ramen and sunshine all around her. The arms that encased her were strong and solid – and Sakura felt safe. Naruto always made her feel safe.

Her throat constricted as she realised just how much she had truly missed Naruto for the past seven weeks – though they both had been in the village, their schedules and responsibilities conflicted so she felt as though she hadn't seen him for months.

"Sakura-chan?" he prompted and she nodded.

"I'm okay, Naruto. Really," she added, feeling his uncertainty. She pulled back to look him in the eyes. They were wide and serious and very, very blue - the colour of the skies and freedom and summer.

God, she'd missed him.

He set her carefully back down on her feet and Sakura started walking again, knowing instinctively that she would never get any shopping done with the blond by her side. She was pleased when he automatically fell into step beside her.

"I was gonna come find you yesterday, but Kakashi-sensei said to let you sleep," he grumbled.

"Oh," she replied. "That was nice of him."

"But by the look of you, I'd say you didn't get much sleep anyway."

It was pure habit to raise an eyebrow threateningly at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Immediately, he started to splutter. "N-nothing bad, Sakura-chan! Just that you look – er, I mean, you look pretty, as usual - you always look pretty - but you look kinda tired today, too!"

Ducking her head to hide her smile, she nodded. Naruto was so easy to tease sometimes. It meant so much to Sakura that after everything – after death and war and prejudice and _hatred _– Naruto was still himself.

"I didn't sleep very well," she acknowledged, deliberating how much to tell him. Sakura wasn't entirely sure what Sasuke's impromptu visit meant, but the fact that he had come by at all – surely that meant something?

"It's more than that, though. Isn't it?"

Sakura stopped in the middle of the street and looked him in the eye, civilians skirting around them like they were stones in the current of a trickling stream.

There was a lie there in her mouth, heavy and bitter on her tongue. She looked at him, at everything he was and all he had achieved and swallowed it back. Where had lying ever gotten her? Sometimes keeping secrets and telling lies ended up hurting people more than the thing you were trying to protect them from. Sakura found this out the hard way. Her actions in the Land of Iron – false confessions and cowardly lies- continued to haunt her.

"Yes, there's more."

They started walking again, slower this time. She could feel his gaze on her, worried and steady.

"Baa-chan told me," he said. "She told me what Madara did."

"What he _tried_ to do," she corrected absently, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "It didn't work, Naruto. Not entirely."

"But what I saw in the courtroom yesterday…those horrible things – they're still in your head, aren't they? They've been in there all this time."

Sakura was silent for a long moment. "You don't need to worry about me, Naruto. Tsunade-shishou has dealt with cases like this before. Don't you remember how she helped Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke after Itachi trapped them in his Tsukuyomi?"

At her words, he looked considerably heartened and she was glad. Naruto was not made for sadness.

"I always worry about you, Sakura-chan," he admitted, grinning sheepishly.

"I guess that's okay," she replied, turning her head to look at him, "I worry about you, too."

For a moment, he looked truly startled. "You don't need to worry about _me,_ Sakura-chan! The good-guy always comes out on top in the end! _And_ he gets the girl!"

Sakura shook her head, amused despite herself. "You've read too many of Jiraiya's novels. But speaking of girls," she added slyly, "what's going on with you and Hinata?"

Immediately, Naruto went a very unflattering shade of red and seemed to choke on his own spit.

"Ah," she said sagely, continuing on her way and leaving her blond idiot of a best friend spluttering incoherently on the spot. "I see."

"S-SAKURA-CHAAAAN."

She stifled a giggle behind her hand with difficulty, hearing him chase after her.

"What?" she asked innocently as Naruto fumed.

"You don't play fair!"

"Playing fair is for sissies," she told him, standing on tip-toe to ruffle his hair affectionately. "Besides, if you don't tell me, I'll have to weasel it out of Hinata-chan myself. And, of course, Ino will insist on helping-"

"FINE, FINE. I'LL TELL YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW," Naruto caved- the thought of both kunoichi ganging up on the easily flustered Hyuuga heiress was obviously too much for his poor soul to contemplate.

"Good. Now tell me, have you kissed her yet?"

"_SAKURA-CHAN!"_

Sakura smiled wide and bright as the two of them continued on their way to the Hokage's office.

* * *

Morning was not welcome. Even before she opened her eyes, stabbing pain shot through Ino's skull, making her stomach churn uncomfortably. Her tongue was so dry, she felt like it was made of sandpaper. For a moment, as she lay there stinking of alcohol and smoke, she had the strong urge to retch. Instead, she rolled over, flung an arm over her closed eyelids to stop the cracks of golden sun peeking through her lashes, and caught a whiff of the bed sheets. Pine and cigarette smoke – a scent that was so very familiar.

Shikamaru had smelled like a curious mix of forest and smoke all the time she'd known him.

Her brain stopped short, like a TV screen that had its cable pulled out the socket. It was then that Ino became aware of quiet breathing beside her, puffs of warm air hitting her ear every few seconds.

Holding her breath and lying very still, she cracked an eye open. The sunlight streaming in through the gap in the curtains made her head throb, but it allowed her to make out the distinct line of Shikamaru's body lying beside her, both of them curled above the covers in the previous night's clothes. His eyes were still shut, face utterly relaxed and head pillowed on one of his arms – it was impossible for her to tell if he was really asleep or not. Knowing him as she did, it was very likely that he was only pretending.

Ino contemplated prodding him in the side until he responded. Recalling last night's conversation and her own embarrassing inability to hold her drink, however, she felt the impulse to slink silently away and hide under her own bed until she could banish the memory. If Shikamaru wanted to pretend he was asleep, she would let him. Either way was a win/win situation.

Besides, _what would his mother say if she walked in on this? _

She grimaced at the very thought and slowly hauled herself upright, the mattress creaking beneath her ever so slightly. Her shadow rippled across the cold floorboards as she stood up.

It had been years since she was last in Shikamaru's bedroom, she realised as she futilely attempted to straighten her sleep rumpled clothes. It was one of the landscapes of her childhood. She had known it intimately – but no longer. The Nara's lived in a new house now, one that smelt of wood chippings and fresh paint, just like Ino's new house did, too. There was nothing familiar in Konoha anymore – even the pattern of the streets had changed and sometimes, navigating them alone, she got muddled and lost herself in a strange, new village that was supposed to be home.

Ino spotted her shoes aligned neatly by his dresser and pulled them on, marvelling at the care he had taken of her while she was unconscious – that it had even occurred to him to take her shoes off, instead of just dumping her on his bed. But Shikamaru had always taken care of her, hadn't he? He was always the one who guarded her vacant body in battle.

A swell of awkward affection rose within her for the possibly-sleeping boy on the bed – but he wasn't a boy anymore, was he? Shikamaru was a young man. And she had shared his bed last night.

Immediately, Ino felt hot and she knew that for some unfathomable reason, she was blushing as hard as Hinata did whenever Naruto was around. Because Shikamaru's profile in the dim light was sort of beautiful and there was a light stubble along his jaw that she'd never noticed before. He was tall now, all strong, sharp lines and muscled limbs. The curve of his mouth made her dizzy.

It had to be the hangover. Or maybe she was still drunk; that had to be it. Ino fled out the window, her hair sticky with sweat and alcohol, a hand clasped over her mouth as she took to the rooftops. For some reason, she couldn't still the sudden pounding of her heart.

As she shot clumsily across the rooftops, Ino vowed never to drink again.

* * *

There was silence in Tsunade's office and Naruto didn't like it. He'd tagged along when he spotted Sakura in the sunlit streets, looking somehow more alive than she had in months – or perhaps, it was merely that she finally had that damn mask down. All morning, it hit him over and over just how beautiful she really was - even thin and bone pale, all tired eyes and small smiles. It would have hurt once, watching her and knowing he never stood a chance. Sakura loved him, he knew, but she had never been his to keep. And now, there was Hinata.

"Are you sure you want Naruto here?" Tsunade asked, eyebrow raised and doubt obvious in her eyes. "These things are usually confidential, Sakura."

Behind the Hokage, Naruto couldn't help but notice, Ino's father looked particularly grim – it made him wonder what they were about to hear. Worry churned in his gut.

"It doesn't bother me," Sakura replied, slumped in her chair. "Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of Naruto."

Yes, there was Hinata now, who made his pulse race and his skin flush, but he could not deny the glow that Sakura's words prompted. _Old habits died hard_, he thought. It always meant the world to him to see how their relationship had grown over the years – the implicit way she trusted and relied on him. If Sasuke was the brother he never had, then Sakura was definitely his sister. He knew that now, inside and out. Those painful three years apart had been the start of a long journey to stop loving her the wrong way.

"If you wish it, Sakura-chan," Inoichi said, but there was a weight in his gaze that made Naruto uncomfortable. There was a sharp, watchful quality in the older man's eyes that reminded him how it felt to be judged and found wanting – as though he didn't belong there.

But despite how she slouched in her chair, Naruto could see the rigid set of Sakura's shoulders. Her smiles had faded away the moment they'd taken their seats.

_Sakura-chan is scared, _he thought and it was like a fist clenched around his heart with the realisation. He stared fiercely back at Ino's father, shoulders straight – sending a pointed message. There was no way that anyone would be able to remove him from the room – not now that he knew Sakura needed him.

"Please," she spoke up softly, raising her head to look at him. "Just tell me what you found."

Sakura's plea did its job. Inoichi cleared his throat gruffly and unfolded his arms. Tsunade leaned back in her chair, face shadowed.

"You are aware, of course, that your mind is unique, Sakura-chan. It is unlike any other I have ever come across."

Naruto started – Tsunade, too, looked taken aback.

"What do you mean, it's unique? Unique how?" Tsunade barked. Surprisingly, it was Sakura who answered.

"He means that I have two souls," she admitted quietly, head bowed. "At least – that's how Ino explained it to me."

_Two souls? _Naruto thought, staring at Sakura with wide eyes. How could someone have two souls? Admittedly, he had the fox inside him – but the Kyuubi was a separate entity bound to his body. Having two souls, both of them yours…that was completely different.

"Yes," Inoichi continued, obviously feeling it best to skirt around Tsunade and Naruto's astonishment. "Two souls – and they are not in balance."

"So that's what the problem is?" Naruto demanded, trying to wrap his mind around it as he leaned towards the older man. "That Sakura's souls aren't in balance anymore?"

For a long moment, Inoichi hesitated. Tsunade's expression was one of intense concern, but Sakura said nothing. She only stared down at her carefully clasped hands.

"Not exactly," he acknowledged at last. "I'm not sure how to explain it – unless you have seen the workings of the human mind, you cannot comprehend the enormity of the damage."

"Then explain it so we can," Tsunade ordered, cold and concise. Naruto would have gulped had he not been so desperate to understand the problem – to help in any way he could.

Inoichi sighed. "Think of the mind," he began, "as an endless room. Everything – your memories, your beliefs, your _essence – _is organised in specific ways. Some people have folders, others have vaults. Sakura-chan has boxes and they've all been turned on their sides and the contents scattered over the floor. Things are not where they belong; memories are getting mixed up and misplaced. The landscape of her mind is in complete chaos."

At their stricken expressions, he hastened to add, "But that can be fixed."

Relief blossomed in his chest like a flower. "So you'll be okay, Sakura-chan!"

"I said _that_ part could be fixed," Inoichi corrected, before Sakura had a chance to respond. "It may take some time. Only you, Sakura-chan, know where the contents of the boxes are supposed to go. Only you can put everything back."

Naruto turned to look at her. Her eyes were very wide, her face pale.

"The other part," was all she said. "You mean my souls, don't you?"

Inoichi nodded slowly. There was sorrow and horror in his expression, but also a morbid sort of curiosity.

"It is a strange thing," he murmured. "Almost like the other one manifested to compensate for some deficiency on your part. And, as the years went on, you needed the other one less and less. It became dormant and the balance of power shifted."

There was a short silence. Sakura's knuckles were pinched and white, her hands no longer clasped, but clenched into tense fists. It was Tsunade, unsurprisingly, who broke the silence.

"And now?" she asked.

"Her souls are out of balance," Inoichi repeated, as if that explained everything. "Sakura-chan's second soul is still awake because of the mess inside her mind. I believe it-"

"She."

The room went silent as everyone turned to look at Sakura, who flushed.

"Sorry," she said, sounding embarrassed. "I don't think – she's not an 'it'. She is…she's _me. _A second me. The inner me."

Her blush deepened and Naruto realised that he was staring. Hastily, he averted his eyes, but they were almost immediately drawn back to her wilting figure. He had so many questions, so many things he wanted to ask her now. How could he have never known about this? Why did Sakura never tell him?

"You mean, you actually interact with your other self? You're aware of each other?" Inoichi demanded and this time, it was Sakura who looked startled.

"Of course. She's always been there – I mean…we used to talk all the time about everything." Sakura hesitated. "I needed her. For a long time, she was so much stronger than me."

"Strong enough to defeat the Tsukuyomi?"

He heard it the moment her breath caught in her lungs. Sakura nodded, bowing her head so that her hair slid forward and shielded her face from view. She suddenly began talking very fast.

"In my first chunin exam, I had to fight against Ino. She used her Mind-Body Switch jutsu on me and tried to make me forfeit. It would have worked…"

"But your inner-self pushed her out."

Sakura nodded again. Naruto felt breathless. He remembered that fight, how he had cheered her on and screamed for her to never give up. He remembered the moment the light behind her eyes changed.

"I knew what M-Madara was going to do to me. I knew that, if he got far enough inside my mind, inner-Sakura would overpower him. She did. She woke up and turned the Tsukuyomi around on him and he didn't realise."

"Yes," Inoichi agreed. "But there are consequences to that. It's like chopping off a limb to save yourself from a trap – you survive, but at the cost of maiming yourself."

There was an ugly beat of silence, heavy and oppressive. Though golden sunlight streamed in through the windows, to Naruto it felt as if the room was suddenly very, very dark.

"Are you saying," Tsunade asked at last and he could tell she was trying very hard to stop her voice from quavering, "that Sakura maimed her soul?"

Inoichi turned away from them to stare out over Konoha's rooftops, as though the sight of Sakura's pale face was too much for him to handle.

"Yes," he said. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

* * *

As it turned out, not everything of his family had been destroyed in Pein's invasion. Sasuke found this out purely by accident, as he wandered through Konoha until the early hours of dawn.

That was when he found the graveyard.

It was in the same place – a few cracked headstones were the only sign that it had felt the impact that destroyed everything he had ever known. Everything else was exactly as he remembered – the stone squares with engraved names, the carefully cut grass that blanketed the dead, and the smell of earth rising to meet him.

The sight stopped him short, static waves of awareness whispering up from the cool ground through his aching bones. It had been so long – so _long _since he last stood here. For a long moment, he almost couldn't believe that they were still here.

_But where else would they be, Sasuke? _the voice spoke softly, regretfully. _The dead stay where we bury them. _

He moved soundlessly, a pale ghost in the hazy morning light that made everything soft and dream-like. When the sun crested over the village's rooftops, Sasuke found himself at his parent's graves.

A small crack ran through his father's name, but other than, that they were untouched. The patch of grass over their decaying bodies was as well tended as everyone else's in the graveyard – and, despite the fact that he had not visited his parents' final resting place for years, had left their graves untended and uncared for…there was a small offering of fresh flowers by each of their headstones.

Immediately, Sasuke's throat went dry. His eyes burned and he found himself staring at the softly curling petals with the strangest of feelings beating inside his chest.

He didn't know how long he stood before his parents graves – long enough for the sun to move and shine down from a height that turned all the world to molten gold, the sky blue and endless overheard. Long enough for the world to wake and come to life, while everyone he loved lay still beneath the ground. All his thoughts were consumed by this one truth; that in his prolonged absence, Konoha had tended to his parents graves, quietly and without a fuss. Konoha had cleared the mulch damp from the tombstones and kept the grass at bay. Konoha had done the things that he, Sasuke, had neglected to do for three and a half years.

_Why are you so surprised, little brother? Did you truly believe that nobody cared for you all these years? Did you truly think you were the only one who grieved our absence? _

All he could hear was the high, peeling sound of small children's laughter on the air and quiet birdsong – and beneath that, was silence.

For the first time in years, the ghosts were lying quiet.

Slowly, his feet began to move. He wandered between the tombstones and took in every name, every Uchiha who belonged to his clan and was murdered for it. Every life that his brother had taken.

Sasuke recalled the names of his beloved dead, as was his duty as the only one left alive.

He was on the twentieth name when a flash of yellow caught his eye.

_Naruto,_ he thought, a hand already flying to the throb of his broken nose. But it wasn't Naruto.

Yamanaka Ino was taller than he remembered. She lay sprawled, very still, on the grass beside another carefully tended headstone. For a moment, he wondered if she was breathing, but then the sound of small, gasping breaths reached his ears. Her face was pressed against the hard, unyielding stone and for a second, he imagined she was listening.

However much she had irritated him as a child, he recognised the slump in her posture. Yamanaka had lost someone that she loved and he would not disturb her.

But, of course, she took that out of his hands.

"You know," she began, not even bothering to turn around as she shattered the quiet. "It's strange that you're back, Sasuke."

He said nothing, merely watched as she slowly straightened up, her hair falling limp and colourless around her shoulders. As she turned toward him he saw dark circles of make-up smudged under her eyes and her clothes were distinctly crumpled. There was a bleariness to her gaze that shook him for the loss inside it. Still, she was so unlike the picture perfect little girl he had known that Sasuke was startled — she didn't look so perfectly put together anymore. There was a glimpse of tragedy in her face.

"I mean," she continued, eyes distant and remote, "it's good too, but…I don't know. For so long, Sakura and Naruto kept saying they'd bring you back — I think everyone just kind of stopped believing them."

He didn't like to imagine it; how his team had done the very thing he had tried to avoid and followed him blindly down a path so full of darkness. He could picture it; Naruto's over-confident grin and Sakura's quiet devotion — both of them stubbornly holding on to something he had tried so very hard to break. Even now, he thought, there was a loyalty there that he would never deserve.

"Hn."

She almost smiled. "Still not very talkative, are you? That's okay. I don't need you to talk to me. I don't need anything from you anymore."

Sasuke said nothing, merely turned to leave. He caught her startled breath as she looked up.

"Wait!"

He didn't know why he paused at her startled shout. Maybe because there was something of another girl he had known in her impulsive cry. He heard pattering footsteps on the moist ground and then Ino, all corn-silk hair and watery blue eyes stood beside him.

"What happened to your face?" she asked. "You look like someone tried to bash your nose in with a brick."

Sasuke just about managed to stop the derisive snort from escaping his lips. _Something like that, _he thought snidely.

Ino bit her lip. She was wobbly on her feet and her skin was washed of colour. He could smell the stale alcohol on her and only years of training his face to be perfectly impassive could stop his lip from curling.

"I…I can heal you. If you want. You should get your face looked at anyway-"

"No."

He turned to leave, but her voice followed him.

"I trained as a medic," she said. "I'm not a very good one – not like Sakura, but I _can _fix your nose. Please. Let me fix this one thing."

There was a plea there that he recognised — a need to put things right. Sighing quietly, he stopped and let Ino slowly advance on him. She raised a trembling hand to his face and he saw the faint green glow of chakra at her fingertips.

Gradually, the pain in his face receded — his skin felt cool beneath her tentative ministrations. It seemed as though the world stopped while they stood there and got what they wanted. She fixed what was broken. He allowed himself to be fixed.

At long last, she was done and stepped hastily back. Sasuke raised a hand to touch his mended nose; it was still tender, but Ino had stopped his face from being ruined, he supposed.

He nodded sharply and turned away.

"Sasuke-kun," she called and he half turned, already annoyed.

Ino's smile was thin, but brave. "Welcome home."

* * *

The streets were not quiet, but the silence that sprang up between her and Naruto made the whole world feel as though it had fallen under an unnatural hush. Nothing was said since they left Tsunade's office — the entire revelation still ringing in her ears. She felt as though a huge wall had sprouted up between them – could see it in the silence, his angry stride, and the way he would not look at her. There was fury rolling off Naruto in waves.

Sakura reached out a tentative hand. "Naruto…"

The touch of her gloved palm on his shoulder drew him to an immediate and shuddering halt. She could feel the tension in his spine and the protruding angle of his shoulder blades beneath his skin.

"Stop it," he said, his voice low and gravelly. "Just stop."

Her hand slid from him of its own accord, something in her turning cold at his words.

"Just – don't look at me like that," Naruto added, practically trembling as he stared straight ahead, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes hard and narrow. "This would never have happened if it wasn't for _me. _If I wasn't the Nine-Tails' host, Madara, he – he never would have done this to you. You would be okay."

Despite the agony in his voice, she couldn't help but feel a sudden and overpowering wave of relief sweep through her at his words. She thought he was angry at her — angry that once again, she'd kept secrets from him, while he had told her all of his. The entire walk out the Palace she was preoccupied with trying to explain – she'd never intentionally hidden inner-Sakura's existence from him, hadn't set out to lie. It was just…having two souls seemed so insignificant in the face of what Naruto had to bear as the Nine-Tails' host. She felt that in sharing the information, he would feel that she had no real comprehension of what it was he had to suffer – that he would despise her a little, for thinking their situations could even be compared.

But of course, she should have expected nothing less than the reaction she saw in him now; his anger lay in the bullet he felt she had taken for his sake.

So Sakura said nothing, but carefully took his hand in hers. "You're wrong."

"Stop it," he hissed, still unmoving. "You shouldn't even – you shouldn't even be talking to me right now."

"What would you rather?" Sakura demanded. "That I blame you? Hate you for something you had no control over? Naruto, I am never going to do that to you. I'm not going to treat you like a pariah for something that was not your fault."

"But-"

"_I need you, Naruto."_

Slowly, so slowly, he turned to look at her. In his eyes, she could see anger and guilt and a grief that had not been there since the day he found out Jiraiya died. For a moment, he looked heartbreakingly like the bandaged boy in the hospital bed from three and a half years ago — sad and desperate and so very _young. _

"Tsunade-shishou is going to help me and Yamanaka-san is organising weekly sessions for me to work through things, but I still need _you. _I need you to go to Ichiraku's with me and spar with me and moan about how much time I spent at the library. I need you to be here."

"Sakura-chan…"

She began to relax as he finally took notice of their linked hands and squeezed hers back tight enough to reassure her.

"I'll be here," he said, swallowing. "I promise."

Sakura knew he meant it, too — felt the sincerity of his words deep in her bones. She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say anything, his attention flickered over her shoulder.

"Hinata-chan?"

Sakura pivoted on the spot, their hands still intertwined. Sure enough, she could see Hinata's figure dashing down the street towards them, eyes wide and frantic.

"S-Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan, come quick!"

Naruto's hand dropped from hers as he started towards the girl of his affections. "Hinata-chan, what's wrong?"

She skidded to a halt in front of them and collapsed forward to rest her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. He bent over her, hands reaching out to hold her steady. She offered him a lovely smile before her pale eyes came to rest on Sakura once again.

"I'm so glad I found you! Oh, Sakura-chan, you must come – it's Kurenai-sensei. Her water broke-"

Naruto started to splutter. "W-what the hell does that mean?"

"It means the baby is coming," Sakura said, snapping into medic-mode as she shot for the rooftops in the direction of Kurenai's apartment, her friends hot on her tail.

* * *

"So?" Kakashi inquired from behind his book. To her credit, Tsunade didn't even look startled by his sudden and unexpected appearance in her window, but she did throw a sake bottle at him.

The sound of clay breaking into small pieces beside his earlobe was all the answer he needed.

"Ah," he said delicately, thinking it safest to tuck his copy of _Icha Icha Tactics _into his pocket.

"You're late!" the Hokage hissed, amber eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Well," he tried, "there was this cat-"

"Shut up!"

Shizune stepped forwards looking anxious. "Umm, Tsunade-sama…"

"And you!" Tsunade snapped, standing abruptly and sending her chair skidding back across the tiled floor. "I don't want to hear it, Shizune!"

There was an abrupt silence in the office. Kakashi thought that the dark-haired woman was probably too used to her mentor's shouting to be greatly hurt by it. For himself, he thought it infinitely safer not to say anything at all, or risk provoking his Hokage's monstrous temper.

For a long moment, Tsunade stood behind her desk, fury clear in her eyes – and then as suddenly as it had come, it dissipated. He watched as her shoulders drooped and she slumped forwards to plant both her palms flat on the desk surface. Her blonde hair slipped forwards to obscure her face. If she was anyone else, Kakashi thought she might have cried.

"You should have been here," Tsunade accused in a low voice and he felt the familiar squirm of guilt in his stomach. Yes, he should have been here – but the very thought had been too much for him to bear. He wasn't cut out for dealing with this kind of damage in someone else, never had been. His aloof personality, carefully cultivated and maintained, had scared Rin sometimes because of how much he hid behind it. She'd told him so.

"_You put so many walls between yourself and the world, Kakashi…you never let anyone in. And I'm just – I'm afraid that one day, you'll wake up and you'll have forgotten how to."_

He nodded once, slowly – the only admission he would give. He was not a good sensei; he had not been able to force himself to stand in the room and hear what Yamanaka Inoichi would say.

_Like a child, always running away, _he thought resignedly. Wasn't he supposed to be a grown up?

He thought of his father's bloody body crumpled on the floor, of Obito's half-buried face trying to smile, and then of Sakura, her blurred silhouette in that split second after her small hand slammed into his chest, the pull of her jutsu taking him away from Madara, to safety.

Even the memory of it, vague and blurred around the edges, made him feel a little sick to his stomach.

"How bad is it?"

Finally, Tsunade looked up and there was a hollowness in her face that struck an arrow deep beneath his ribcage.

"Bad enough that she's going to need _you._"

* * *

**notes: a thousand apologies for the long wait. my only excuse is the age old "BUT I'M A COLLEGE STUDENT NOW, I DON'T EVEN HAVE TIME TO SLEEP ANYMORE." **

**notes2: thoughts on recent canon? (*SPOILER ALERT, TURN AWAY IF YOU'RE NOT UP TO DATE*)**

**1. who is Tobi? **

**2. where the fuck is Itachi? (head on over to youtube, I am in love with sawyer7mage's reviews)**

**3. WHY DID SASU-CHAN NOT TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO FINALLY TOSS AWAY THAT STUPID PURPLE BOW HE WEARS? WHYYYY? **

**4. anyone else pissed we didn't get to see Kakashi go on his aforementioned "rampage"? **

**Here you go, _Kaze and Kiba_ - told you I'd be getting this out to you soon. Consider it a Christmas present. **

**On a final note, because I am twenty and a grown-up now: don't fav/alert without leaving a review. there's about a hundred and fifty (or so) of you who have done that and i know you you are.you know who you are. if you like my writing enough to come back to it, surely it's worth the effort to tell me I'm doing things right? **

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!**


	20. Chapter Twenty

Sakura had only delivered a baby once before, but it was an experience that was vividly scarred into the plains of her memory. Back then, she had been fourteen and nervous, still new to the whole medic profession and, truth be told, a little grossed out by the whole thing. She didn't have any siblings, had never known any pregnant women – childbirth was a vague, romantic thing to her until that day.

Childbirth was _messy_. It was undignified, painful, and more than a little terrifying for everyone involved. But Sakura was not fourteen anymore; she'd dealt with messier and scarier things than women trying to push a baby out of their bodies.

"_Oh my god!"_

She winced as Naruto's voice reached a pitch it hadn't been capable of since he was twelve years old. It sounded like he'd hit himself in the face with the door in his haste to leave the room.

"Hinata," she called, already on her knees beside Kurenai's bed. "Can you ask Naruto to tell Shikamaru what's happening?"

"Y-yes," Kurenai ground out between clenched teeth, as Hinata hurried from the room. "He should – _they_ should be here…for the birth."

_Yes, they should, _Sakura thought, but Kurenai was so far along in labour that she had doubts they would arrive in time. It was too late to even get her to the hospital.

_Oh Ino. _For a moment, her thoughts went out to her blonde best friend. It would mean so much for her to be here for this moment; to see a little piece of Asuma come back into the world.

And then the medic in her took over as Hinata shuffled back into the room.

"Blankets," Sakura ordered firmly, "and towels-"

She was cut off by Kurenai's sudden and drawn out cry of pain. Hinata flinched and rushed to hold her mentor's hand.

"What is it?"

Sakura frowned, a swelling of unease beneath her ribcage. Something was wrong. She extended a chakra-laden hand over Kurenai's protruding stomach, sensing…

_Oh god. _

"Sakura-chan-"

_Be calm, _she told herself, _don't panic them. _

"I need you both to stay calm. The umbilical cord twisted and is caught around the baby's neck_." It's going to suffocate him._

"No!" Hinata and Kurenai's vehement denials melded together into one decibel, both of them wide eyed.

Already, Sakura was reaching for the chakra that lived in every crevice of her body, shaping it, moulding it for what she had to do. And it obeyed her readily, as it always had, trickling from all over her body to take shape at her fingertips.

"Hinata, hold her steady. Kurenai-sensei…I'm sorry, but there's no time to wait for an anaesthetic. This is going to hurt."

"I don't care," she ground out between clenched teeth, sweat beading on her forehead. "Just save my baby."

Sakura nodded, stamping down on any flickers of hesitation at causing pain. The chakra at her fingertips sharpened into scalpels and, breathing steadily, she brought her hand down across Kurenai's stomach. The pregnant woman cried out, body jerking beneath Hinata's hands.

The scent of blood, thick and coppery filled the room; Sakura grit her teeth and set about saving the life of Asuma and Kurenai's child.

* * *

The sight of a woman in the throes of labour sent Naruto into such a mindless panic that he spent a good five minutes running through Konoha's streets trying to track down Shikamaru and the rest of Team Ten before it occurred to him that he was a ninja, _damn it! _

"SHADOW-CLONE JUTSU!"

Immediately, he took to the rooftops with the rest of his clones and continued scouring the village for that tell-tale head of spiky hair. The sun had reached its highest peak in its ascent across the sky and the heat blared down on him fiercely. He felt it scorch the bare skin between the collar of his jacket and the tips of his hair. It reminded him for a moment of the long days spent wandering in the heat, Pervy-Sage at his side, casting a vast, solid shadow on the dry ground as they strolled from place to place. He was always sunburnt in those days – short on money, but freer than he had ever been before. Moving from town to town, no one watched him with hard eyes or talked about him as though he wasn't there. After a childhood spent being treated as a pariah, anonymity came as something of a relief.

Still, Naruto thought now, still running across the rooftops and seeing the odd villager on the ground spot him and wave, things had changed. And no matter how freeing it had been away from the weight of other people's prejudices, Konoha was always, _always _home.

"SHIKAMARU," he bellowed, throwing those errant thoughts away and returning to the matter at hand – the task with which Hinata had entrusted him. "SHIKAMARU, YOU ASS! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Of course, he realised much, much later that instead of shadow clones, he could have saved so much more time by using Sage Mode. But Naruto was generally an act first, think later sort of person. Older now and knowing something of bitterness, of hatred and the cycles it looped around everything – knowing battlefields and blood and trembling bones, he'd convinced himself that if he died, at least it would be consistent with how he lived; vividly and in the moment. Regrets were bitter and he'd found the taste was not to his liking. Maybe Sasuke would learn that one day; that grudges were poison and revenge was only a path to darkness. It was lucky that Team Ten got out alive, really. But maybe Shikamaru had more sense than Sasuke did.

"HEY!"

A shout pulled him out of his rambling thoughts – mere distraction, really – and Naruto stumbled, nearly fell ten feet to land flat on his face. His arms pinwheeled comically for a minute before he regained his precarious sense of balance.

"What the hell are you making so much racket for, idiot?"

Naruto looked down. Irate blonde with her hands on her hips and squinting eyes. He figured she'd do.

Shikamaru was a lazy bastard and Ino knew him a lot better than he did.

"KURENAI'S HAVING HER BABY AND YOU HAVE TO COME NOW ."

Ino blinked slow, startled. "What?"

Naruto swallowed, tried again. "Kurenai. Baby. You hafta come."

Her eyes went wide, comprehension settling in the hollows of her features. She moved to run, then hesitated. "Shikamaru – Chouji-"

"Where are they?"

"They'll be at home," she whispered, "or maybe cloud-watching near the park."

"I'll find them," he promised, glad for an excuse not to go back just yet.

Ino ran.

* * *

Later, she would think it lucky they came when they did. Ino crashed through the door first, wild-eyed and dishevelled. Sakura looked up, wrist deep in blood and followed Kurenai's line of vision. The pregnant jounin's face was bloodless and pinched with pain.

"Ino," she sighed with relief. "Good, you can help."

Sakura was good enough to cut the infant out and stop Kurenai from bleeding out at the same time, but Ino was the one who deserved to be a part of this. Immediately, the blonde moved to the bed, hands outstretched and glowing faintly with chakra, eyes determined. Hinata held Kurenai's hand with both of her own and sat pale and silent.

By the time Naruto returned with Shikamaru and Chouji, it was all over.

* * *

It wasn't Sasuke he was looking for, but when Kakashi spotted him roaming the village listlessly, his expression was so lost that the copy-nin couldn't walk away.

The last time he walked away from the dark-haired boy, it had been a mistake – a failure – of the most grievous kind. He'd failed all of them that day, thinking a few words on the nature of revenge and some chakra string would be enough to quench the fire that had been growing in Sasuke for five long years. Almost four years had passed since then and Kakashi was still failing his students. For once, he would prove himself adequate as a sensei – and a human being.

It was a quiet road, near the training grounds and under the warm midday sun, the sound of quiet birdsong and rustling leaves was soothing.

"It's been a while since I've been able to sneak up on you," Kakashi observed, looking the boy over with his one eye.

Sasuke gave a droll snort, but said nothing in reply. He didn't stop walking either, but Kakashi kept pace with him easily, _Icha Icha _stowed in his pocket. It would be easy to hide behind it.

"I see you're no longer under house arrest," he said instead. "That must be nice."

Sasuke gave him a swift, unreadable look. Like Naruto, he had shot up steadily over the years, but it was still a shock to be confronted with a Sasuke who was his equal in height. Somehow, over the years, he'd never been able to picture his lost student as any older than he had been at thirteen.

"I'm still under probation," Sasuke told him stiffly and judging by the rigid set of his shoulders, that made uncomfortable.

_But, _Kakashi told himself, _uncomfortable is progress from outright hostile. _

"Ah."

"I don't…" Sasuke broke off and seemed to hesitate, before finishing stiltedly, "I don't know what to do now."

He finally came to a halt, fists clenched and face averted – Kakashi's heart went out to him at the signs of frustration. He knew what a blow to his pride that had been for him to admit.

Living for vengeance meant Sasuke always had a single focus, a clear goal in mind. Letting go of that after all this time was bound to leave him lost.

"I can't tell you what to do with your life," Kakashi said slowly. "I tried that once and nothing good came of it. Whatever you do now has to be your decision – and yours alone."

When Sasuke remained silent, he added, "Just – do what's best for _you, _Sasuke. I know your clan is important to you, but you need to live for yourself now. There's nothing more you can do for them."

He thought of Obito, his face and his bravery, and raised a hand to the eye he covered with his hitai-ate. Perhaps one day, if he could ever muster the strength to put it into words, he would tell Sasuke that particular story.

"I know." There was a hollowness in the young man's voice that he'd never heard before. Kakashi didn't reach out and ruffle his hair as he would have done when Sasuke was younger, but he smiled at him, as affectionate and gentle as he could make it.

"You gave up a lot for revenge, Sasuke," he said kindly, "and that's… admirable in its own way. But you don't have to sacrifice anything anymore."

Sasuke said nothing in reply and Kakashi figured that was about as much as would get through to him; the rest he would have to work out for himself.

"You always said that those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash," Sasuke said suddenly and Kakashi, who had turned to leave, looked back over his shoulder in surprise.

"I did," he said, then hesitated. "It was an Uchiha who showed me that."

Clearly stunned, Sasuke stared at him with dark eyes. "What?"

"He was a good person – he was my teammate," Kakashi said, the familiar pangs of guilt and regret starting up in his chest. "I think he would have understood why you left."

There was a moment of silence between them as the implications of that began to sink in. And even though Kakashi had resolved not to influence Sasuke, to let him make his own choices from here on out, he couldn't resist adding as he left, "They still love you, you know – Naruto and Sakura. Whatever it is you choose to do now, you'd better take that into consideration. I don't think they'd be able to survive you leaving them for a second time."

* * *

"It's- it's a girl," Ino whispered, as Sakura gently handed the baby – wrapped carefully in a white towel – over to its mother. Kurenai was still ghostly pale, her expression pained, but when she gazed upon the baby girl in her arms, her eyes lit up like fireworks and her entire face softened.

"Congratulations, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata smiled, still sat at her teacher's bedside. Everyone in the room echoed the sentiment.

"Thank you," the woman said softly, cradling the baby girl in her arms as she looked up at them all. _"Thank you." _

Hovering by the door, she saw her teammates hesitate, their faces full of the joy and sadness that Ino knew was showing on her own. Her heart, which had lurched sickeningly the entire time, finally began to right itself – the situation finally beginning to sink in. This was Kurenai's baby. _Asuma's _little girl.

"Can we…?" Shikamaru started, the words dying halfway out of his throat as he took a halting step forward. Behind him, Chouji's mouth trembled.

Understanding blossomed in the air between mother and children – because that's what they were in that moment, Ino felt. Despite everything that had been thrown in their path that forced them to grow up in recent months – war, blood, death, destruction, loss – she felt like a child. She felt like a child who had been lost in a strange place for a long time, who had finally been found.

Kurenai's kind smile urged her forward.

"Of course," she beckoned them. "Please-"

Distantly, she heard Sakura excuse herself, heard Naruto and Hinata follow, but it was lost on her.

She found herself perched on the bed with Shikamaru and Chouji with no real recollection of having crossed the room. The sheets were bloody and her hands were shaking, but nothing mattered to Ino in that moment except for the tuft of damp, dark hair peeking out between Kurenai's arms; the baby girl who had almost been lost forever. That baby girl was the most important thing in the world.

Chouji sniffed beside her and Ino felt her eyes welling up. "She's beautiful," she told Kurenai with a watery smile. She could already see a little of her sensei in the baby's face – looking across at Shikamaru she knew he could see it, too. He made a strange noise, half-sobbing, half-laughing and Ino realised then that he was crying. Chouji sniffed again and swiped at his eyes hastily.

Her own face was wet from the tears she hadn't noticed spilling over, but she found herself smiling widely, too.

"She's so small," Shikamaru said, and he sounded mystified, like the boy he had once been. She remembered thinking that despite his unquestionable genius, it had always been the smallest things that eluded his big brain. "Look at her hands, they're tiny…"

"What are you going to call her?" Chouji asked Kurenai in a whisper. The awe in his voice reflected how Ino felt, too – awed and overjoyed that a little piece of the man they had all loved so fiercely had come back to them in this tiny baby girl. It was a miracle the likes of which, despite the nine months or so she had been carrying his baby, none of them had quite managed to comprehend until now.

Kurenai looked up at them all, her crimson eyes both immeasurably sad and full of quiet joy. It was a strange and heartbreaking contrast.

"Rena," she said. "Her name is Rena."

* * *

"You've got blood on your hands," Naruto told her, concern in his eyes as he put a hand on her shoulder, the front door swinging shut behind them. "Sakura-chan, are you all right?"

She looked down at her hands and nodded. The blood was already drying, crusting under her fingernails and it was gross, Sakura knew that, but it didn't bother her. Blood on her hands was unavoidable when she knelt, wrist deep, in someone's shredded internal organs – and it was unavoidable just now. It was part of being a medic.

In all the rush of the last six months – in finding her home flattened around her ears, in trying to kill Sasuke, in going to war, and in scouring the darkness of Konoha's roots – Sakura hadn't been much of a medic. It had all been about fighting. Fighting herself, fighting the world.

She thought of Kurenai's shining eyes as she held her daughter, of Ino's tremulous smile, and her chest filled with warmth.

"I'm okay," she replied, feeling like something had suddenly slotted back into place for her. She'd _missed _it, she realised. She had missed being a medic. She missed her shifts at the hospital and working in the lab and taking missions where all she was required to do was cure someone.

She'd spent years learning how to heal and lately all she'd been doing was shedding blood.

Yes, it had been necessary. Sakura knew that without all the extra training she did with Kakashi to enhance her fighting capabilities, Kabuto may not have been eliminated. War changed everything, but the war was over now.

"I think…I think I'm going to the hospital," she continued. Hinata merely took one of her hands and clasped it tightly, eyes soft and full of gratitude.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," she said earnestly. "If you hadn't come, I don't know what would have happened. You saved her."

She smiled back, felt the words strike something deep inside her – a satisfaction that combat had never quite managed to give her. Victory against an opponent, she knew well enough; that wild, heady exhilaration that meant you made it out alive. Healing people, saving people, was different.

In her own small way, she changed the world – someone's world. She made a difference.

"Don't mention it," Sakura said, releasing Hinata's hand. She smiled at Naruto, who still looked pale and a little panicked. Typical teenage boy, she thought fondly.

"Maybe I'll see you later," she said, knowing he'd be at the newly rebuilt Ichiraku's, slurping ramen for dinner. He shot her one of his dumbfounded looks, but nodded slowly.

"You'd better," Naruto waved her off.

Already organising Kurenai's aftercare in her mind, Sakura turned and started down the street towards her apartment, where she could wash up properly. Her good mood from the morning was creeping back from where it had vanished in Tsunade's office, despite the drying blood on her hands.

She had the strangest feeling then – she thought of the long missions she'd taken away from the village over the years and the moments she finally shouldered her backpack for home.

The war, the trial, it was all over. Sakura thought it was time for life to go back to normal.

* * *

The silence set in properly the moment Sakura disappeared around the corner. Still standing outside Kurenai's apartment, Naruto stared after his pink-haired teammate and felt the worry settle in. The panic of Kurenai going into labour had driven the morning's events out of his mind for a while, but watching Sakura walk away, he felt strangely reluctant to let her out of his sight.

_But that's pointless, _he thought, melancholy. _Whatever's going on in Sakura's head isn't something I can protect her from. _

It hurt to admit that, even to himself; that he couldn't protect her anymore. A quiet sigh escaped his lips.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said tentatively and he turned to face her. She was, he had started to notice, exceptionally beautiful. "Are you alright?"

He smiled at her, wide and bright, not wanting her to worry. It still took some getting used to, the idea that Hinata _knew _him so well – that she had known exactly who he was for years and years.

"Yeah. That whole labour thing just freaked me out for a bit, but everything's cool."

It bothered him actually; the inequality of their…whatever they had between them. Having never understood her shyness around him before, Naruto had never been able to get to know her the way she had always secretly known him.

He knew that she liked pressing flowers and training early in the morning, when the sun was barely up, that she didn't like shrimp – but looking at her now, all pale eyes and long dark hair, it didn't seem like enough.

"It scared me a little bit, too," she said softly, eyes lowering to the ground. "I haven't seen Kurenai-sensei in pain like that before and – and I was so afraid, Naruto-kun. I was so afraid that the baby would die."

He could see unshed tears beginning to glisten beneath her lashes and remembered those years when her father had abandoned her, how Neji had tormented her for being 'weak'. It struck him that to Hinata, Kurenai had been as much of a surrogate parent to her as Jiraiya had been to him. The pain that came whenever he thought of his dead mentor blossomed hollowly beneath his ribcage and Naruto understood how real and powerful her fear had been that afternoon.

Carefully, he took both of her hands in his and leaned forward until his forehead touched hers. The world fell away – all Naruto was aware of was strands of long, silky hair and her softly flushing skin.

"Everything will be alright," he promised quietly. His heart thumped madly in his chest and he began to feel dizzy. Hinata nodded, a small smile forming on her lips. A voice popped into Naruto's head - Sakura's voice from that morning asking, _"Have you kissed her yet?" _

The dizziness increased as he was caught between the conflicting need to back away and draw even closer; another few inches and…

Naruto could feel Hinata's breath against his collarbone as she shakily exhaled and it drove all thought out of his mind. As he closed the gap between them and pressed his mouth against hers, it felt like a victory of the sweetest kind.

When Naruto kissed Hinata for the first time, it felt like a promise of things to come.

The best part of all was that she didn't faint.

* * *

The sun was beginning its slow descent when Sakura finally dragged herself from the hospital. After stopping in to organise Kurenai's aftercare and send a competent nurse to tend to the woman at her apartment, she'd been lured into staying by the call of paperwork and patients.

With all that had been going on in Konoha recently, the efficiency of the hospital had suffered. It was understaffed and behind on paperwork. Many patients were shinobi who were critically injured during the war and required long-term care and rehabilitation to recuperate.

Walking in to the familiar smell of antiseptic and stale air was like coming home; it was between the walls of Konoha's hospital that Sakura had really started to grow up.

The nurses, tired and overworked, were delighted to see her. "Haruno-san, you're back! How are you?"

"Put me to work, ladies," she'd said with a smile, slipping back into the role of the medic – of _Haruno-san _– as easily as she would her favourite pair of shoes. "Let's get this hospital back up to speed."

Walking the halls, clipboard in hand, she felt the familiarity wrap around her like a blanket, soft and comforting. So much of what happened around her recently felt out of her control, but the hospital was her domain. Her heart beat in time to the echo of her footsteps in the corridor and for the first time since Pein attacked the village, Sakura did not feel vulnerable.

Hours passed in a static blur of charts and chakra flow, the familiar monotony of it allowing her to forget about the morning's terrifying revelations, even if just for a little while. When she emerged from the hectic normalcy, the reality of what she was facing every day set in again, but she didn't feel quite as scared as she had in Tsunade's office. Going back to what she knew – being a medic – grounded her in a way nothing else could.

As the sky flushed from exquisite blue to warm orange and gold, Sakura made her way through the streets, less crowded now than they had been that morning and full of the sound of laughter and birdsong. Lights were beginning to come on in windows, families winding down for the evening as delicious smells of cooking wafted through the air. Her stomach growled fiercely.

"Huh," she said, looking down at her stomach with mild curiosity. Truth be told, she'd not had much of an appetite for months – the sudden strike of hunger took her by surprise and she knew her kitchen was practically bare. "I guess I'll be going to Ichiraku's after all."

The ramen booth wasn't her favourite restaurant, but it'd held a special place in her heart for years now. Apart from their old training grounds, it was the one place that she associated with Team Seven – the old Team Seven, at the height of their friendship. When it all fell apart, and Sasuke was lost and Naruto left, she stopped going. Naruto was the only one she went to Ichiraku's with now (though there had been that one time with Kakashi).

When Sakura pushed through the flaps, she wasn't surprised to see the blond in question already there at the counter with what was probably his third bowl of ramen. She took the empty stool beside him.

"Pork, or miso?" she asked, resting her chin on her hands.

Naruto grinned, blue eyes lighting up at the sight of her. "Sakura-chan!"

"Hey, you," she greeted him affectionately, the happiness radiating off him in waves already seeping through her pores and into her bloodstream. He swallowed down a mouthful of noodles and hailed the owners.

"Hey, old man! Send over a pork ramen for Sakura-chan, okay?"

"Well, I guess that decides it."

"The pork is really good today," he said, unapologetic. "Besides, I'm paying."

That caught her attention. Eyebrow raised, she asked, "You are? But – you never pay!"

"I'm in a good mood," Naruto told her, raising the bowl to his lips and slurping the soup down. Wiping his mouth, he added, "I feel like being generous."

Sakura eyed him suspiciously. His face was flushed, eyes bright even for his standards. In fact, he was almost…glowing.

"Oh my god!" Sakura put two and two together with a rush of excitement. "You kissed her, didn't you?"

Naruto choked, face and neck flushing an unflattering red as Sakura let out a peal of uncontrollable, giddy laughter. . Teuchi and Ayame exchanged wary glances at their behaviour as her own bowl of ramen was set down in front of her, but Sakura didn't care.

It was more than Naruto's embarrassment that prompted her reaction – it was the knowledge that two of her precious friends had finally found each other; that Hinata, who had loved Naruto for so long from the side lines, was at last standing by his side. And Naruto, who had been alone for so long, who deserved to be loved more than anyone else she knew, had found that love in Hinata – and accepted it.

Sakura launched herself at Naruto and threw her arms around his shoulders, as he finally stopped spluttering.

"S-Sakura-chan?" Naruto patted her back uncertainly, adorable in his confusion. He was probably the most lovable person she knew – she herself had unkowingly started to love him before she actually liked him . He _deserved _this. Sakura drew back, smiling so wide her cheeks hurt.

"I'm so happy for you," she told him, picking up her chopsticks. Naruto grinned back bashfully.

"Happy enough you won't blab to Ino?"

Raising her chopsticks to her mouth, she deliberated playfully, "Well…"

"Sakura!"

"Oh all right," she gave in and started her meal. It tasted delicious – perhaps it was the satisfaction of her appetite returning at last, but she enjoyed the ramen a lot more than she usually did.

In the time it took for her to eat two bowls of ramen, Naruto scoffed down four more. There was something different in the air, she noticed vaguely, but she wasn't sure what that it was.

Glancing at the blond beside her, she realised what it was; for what felt like years, when they went to Ichiraku's together, they automatically left a stool between them; the seat where Sasuke used to sit.

It was a way of showing, she thought, that they hadn't given up, that their absent friend was still alive in their memories, still a part of their team. Today, there was no space between them; they didn't have to put a brave face on his absence to each other anymore. Sasuke had finally come back.

"Naruto," she began, knowing she had to ask, "did you hit Sasuke in the face?"

She watched as his hand clenched into a fist and he stared down at the dregs of the miso before him. "How did you know?"

Sakura fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "He came to see me last night. He…thanked me."

Thinking of it still brought forth a rush of complicated and unexplainable feelings that she would rather were left buried. Those two words in particular carried so much more weight than she was comfortable examining.

She became aware that Naruto was gaping at her – when she raised an eyebrow he snapped his jaw shut hastily and tried to smile.

"That's good, then. I'm glad."

She sighed and pushed the encounter from her mind. "You two had a fight, didn't you?"

"He was being an ass. I just slapped some sense into him, is all."

The tight line of his mouth as he turned back to his ramen gave her some clue as to what it was they had fought about. Sakura wanted to smile at that, but mostly, she just felt tired.

"He's always an ass," she said and Naruto rewarded her with a snort. "But don't stay mad at him for too long, okay? He needs you."

Naruto gave her a long, serious look, blue eyes made sombre by the intensity of his expression.

"He needs _us, _Sakura-chan. Both of us."

She took a deep breath and tried to find words for the thing she had been avoiding ever since she saw Sasuke in the hallway of the Ninja Alliance Base.

"I don't know how to be his friend anymore, Naruto," she admitted in a whisper. "I don't know if I can."

Naruto smiled sadly, the soft glow of the lamp light illuminating his face with warm gold. "It's always been…different between the two of you and I know that makes it harder, Sakura-chan. I know. But you have to try. We've spent _so long_ chasing after him…"

_Don't give up, _was what he really meant. Sakura placed her chopsticks down and smiled faintly.

"One day," she told him, "I really think you'll be a wonderful Hokage."

He grinned, wide and bright. "Better believe it, Sakura-chan!"

She waited while he ate a few more bowls of ramen, a vague plan between them to browse the evening market when he was done.

"Ahhh!" he sighed at last, rubbing his stomach and smiling lazily. "That was great! Thanks old man!"

Outside the night air was cooling and the sky was darkening to a soft, smoky indigo. The first stars were beginning to make an appearance, the last rays of sunlight throwing a golden glow over everything when someone's long shadow rippled across their path.

Sasuke.

* * *

**A/n: Thanks to the infinitely lovely _Sakura's Unicorn _for working her magic on this chapter. **

**For your information, Rena means 'reborn' in Japanese. I thought it was strangely appropriate. Also, _The Butterfly Effect _is drawing to a close - only one more chapter to go and then it's on to the sequel/continuation. If you're interested, there's a brief synopsis for it on my profile now. **

**Christmas and New Years basically destroyed my liver. I swear I drink more at home than I do at Uni. HOW WAS YOUR WINTER HOLIDAY? **

**Oh, and on the subject of review - thank you, lovelies. The response I've gotten from you throughout the entirety of this story means so much to me. You've helped my confidence so much :)**


	21. Chapter TwentyOne

**dedication: for everyone who has followed **_**The Butterfly Effect **_**from its very beginning. I can never thank you enough. **

* * *

"_It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world."_ – Chaos Theory

* * *

Sasuke saw them the same moment they saw him; as their gazes locked, all three of them came to an abrupt halt on opposite sides of the path. Naruto and Sakura's outlines were haloed by the golden glow from the restaurant behind them and it turned their features softer, younger. For just a second, despite the fact that Naruto was now a head taller than Sakura, he could almost believe no time had passed. But then Sakura's face shuttered closed and he knew that there was no lying to himself anymore. Three years had passed and all of them had come out on the other side of them changed.

Unsurprisingly, it was the blond who took the first step forward, Sakura following hesitantly – and Sasuke found the courage to take a step forward of his own.

The evening air was cooling softly around them and the street was full of the smell of ramen and sticky rice and the hissing steam that came off the woks. The upper floors of shop buildings where their owners resided were lit with yellow light and the low hum of voices – children, parents, families, lovers – made the village seem alive somehow, even as the day drew to a close.

Sasuke perceived all of this and it began to warm something inside him, to soothe his tired, ragged edges. Every nerve in his body knew it, recognised it – began to lay a tentative claim on it once more.

His mind tried out the word gingerly, shaped his thoughts around it: _home? _It came out as a question; one he did not know how to answer. Even when he was at his darkest and planned to move against the village as a whole, Konoha had still been the closest thing he had to a home. It would always be the place where he grew up; it would always hold the memory of his clan. How long could he carry on denying that? He'd tried to erase his bonds with Team Seven and it hadn't worked. When it came down to it, even with black, burning hatred in his heart for what Konoha had done to his family, he'd still chosen to save Naruto from Madara.

"Hey," the blond in question said, as if nothing was wrong – as if he hadn't punched Sasuke in the face the previous evening. "Whatcha doing out here by yourself, Sasuke?"

"Walking," Sasuke replied tersely. His nose still felt tender, despite Yamanaka's healing. He noticed Sakura watching him with still eyes.

"Your face looks better," was all she said in response to his raised brow – an observation that was pointlessly aired, in his opinion. About to make a snide remark, it occurred to Sasuke that in the few times they'd encountered each other since their return to Konoha, the only words she had given him were those of necessity. Until now.

"_They still love you," _Kakashi's voice crept up on him, a soft whisper in the back of his mind that Sasuke could not ignore. _Yes, little brother, they still love you. They _still _love you, so what are you going to do about it? _

"Aa," he agreed. "It feels better."

"Couldn't deal with the pain, bastard?" Naruto asked slyly. "I never took you for such a wuss."

Sasuke barely opened his mouth to argue, when Sakura spoke.

"Like you can talk," she said. "Whenever you're not taking advantage of my free healing, you've got the Nine-Tails patching you up."

Naruto pouted. "Sakura-chaaaaan! So cold!"

She shrugged, a tiny smile lingering about her mouth. It was affection, Sasuke realised dimly. In all the years he'd spent alone, he'd almost forgotten what it looked like.

Seeing them together, it felt suddenly as if a line had sprung up between them and he was watching from the other side – from the _outside, _even. It wasn't a pleasant sensation. Involuntarily, he took a step back.

"Bah!" Naruto scoffed, brushing away the accusation and slinging an arm carelessly over Sasuke's shoulder. "Sakura-chan and I were gonna go look 'round the market, Sasuke-teme."

He found himself analysing their expressions very carefully. Naruto's eyes were bright and welcoming, his other arm thrown back behind his head as if nothing had changed since their genin days. Sakura was different, harder to read than her companion. Since the previous evening and the trial, it seemed as if the icy disregard she'd treated him with had thawed into neutral stoicism. He still found it disconcerting.

Raising her eyes to meet his probing gaze, Sakura's face softened the tiniest bit towards him.

"The stalls have changed in the last few years," she said. "There's one particular vendor who stocks the most wonderful kind of tea. Maybe you could come, too. With us. I mean, if you want."

Both boys stared at her in surprise for several long moments and then, realising what they were doing, abruptly tried to hide it. Sasuke hesitated before answering, feeling strangely as though he was teetering on the brink of something too precious and insubstantial to put into words.

"Tea," he repeated, and was rewarded by two vastly different smiles; one was a beaming grin, the other a gentle curve of lips sweeping upward. Both made him feel that the line was wavering.

"Tea," Sakura said.

* * *

In all the times she'd imagined Sasuke returning to the village, this was what Sakura had wished for most. She'd wanted him safe and happy, of course – that had always been her first priority – but there was a deeper, more selfish part of her that had wanted _this. _More than anything, she missed his quiet presence by her side, the pleasure of his company.

So much had happened between this evening and those simple dreams, yet here they were, the three of them, together and not trying to kill each other for the first time in years.

The weight of that reality settled on her so heavily, she felt like her legs might give way beneath her – and yet, at the same time, there was a part of her that felt like she was walking on air.

_Sasuke is home, _she thought, sneaking a glance at the dark-haired boy walking on Naruto's other side. _Sasuke is _home. She'd thought the only way for him to come back was in a body-bag, but he'd _chosen_ to return. He'd laid aside revenge for a justice that was both fair and legal.

The boy who'd stared across the ravine at her with cold, crazed eyes seemed like a terrible waking-dream as she considered the boy before her, pausing to examine a stack of scrolls on one of the stands.

Fighting the urge to smile, she turned away to peruse a collection of exquisitely coloured kimonos. There were ribbons, too, lying in long lines across a small table. Somewhere to her left, she could hear Naruto enthusiastically haggling over the price of a new shuriken set.

They were barely talking to each other, their attention more focused on the stalls and the items they held, but it was a start. Sakura glanced again at the original members of Team Seven, unable to help herself. Sasuke had moved to stand a little behind Naruto, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets and wearing an exasperated frown at the blond's wild gesturing.

It was a scene taken directly from her memories – watching them, it was so easy to see the twelve-year-old boys who had been her teammates.

"Do you see anything you like, little one?" the old woman who owned the stand asked, lined face creasing with a genial smile. Sakura turned back to the collection of pretty ribbons before her and picked out a simple strip of ivory silk with nimble fingers. It had been so long since she'd bought herself something just because it was pretty. Her whole apartment, she now realised, was practically bare – she'd lost almost everything she owned when Pein flattened the village.

"This," she said, handing the ribbon over and fishing some money out of her wallet.

The proprietor beamed as she wrapped Sakura's purchase in delicate, blue tissue paper. "A beautiful ribbon for a beautiful girl," she said.

Sakura blushed as she took the prettily packed ribbon. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"HEY, SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto's call distracted her and she hastily followed the sound of the blond's voice.

"What?"

He grinned at her, whisker marks stretched tight over his cheeks. "I thought you wanted to go get some tea?"

"Oh, right," she recalled her awkward invitation for Sasuke to join them. She wondered if he regretted coming with them; his face was unreadable. "Uh, the stand is somewhere up ahead."

They walked together through the stalls until she spotted the one in question. It was a modest booth, but Sakura liked it.

She recognised the face of the vendor. "Hello, Mauyu-san."

"Haruno-san," he replied, obviously pleased. "I haven't had the pleasure of your patronage for a while." He squinted at her companions good-naturedly.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I assume? And you…I recognise your face. Am I correct in addressing Uchiha Sasuke? You boys stopped a war, if I have my facts right."

Naruto waved a dismissive hand, but his blue eyes were lit up with something like pride. "It was nothing."

Sakura despaired a little when Sasuke gave one of the non-committal grunts he was famous for, but otherwise pushed down the old feelings of inadequacy. It was always like this, she thought, and it probably always would be. Naruto and Sasuke were famous, world-class ninja and nothing would change that. She'd fought her battles and come out of them alive, first with Sasori and then with Kabuto. She supposed she couldn't ask for more than that, not when everyone she loved was safe at last. Not when Sasuke was finally home, where he belonged. She knew this, and yet it didn't stop the little twinge of resentment in her chest.

"So what can I do for you?" the vendor asked, wrenching Sakura from her distracted thoughts. Naruto had disappeared, she realised, glancing around and finding only the Uchiha by her side, tall and silent and utterly impossible for her to read.

"Umm," she stalled for time, moving closer to the table and examining the little packets of flavoured tea. She usually went for green tea, but the jasmine caught her eye.

"I think… jasmine tea," she ventured, reaching for her purse, but the friendly-faced vendor shook his head.

"I know who you are, Haruno-san, and what you've done. This one is for free."

The little package was handed over and Sakura took it, gaping. "Sorry?"

"My son is a Jounin," was the succinct reply. "I know what you did during the war. Take the tea. And you too, Uchiha-san. It's on the house."

Understanding blossomed suddenly and she stuttered incoherently, still trying to hand some kind of payment over. The faint jealousy that stirred in her chest suddenly evaporated.

"Nonsense." He shooed her back into the melee of stalls and people with good- tempered grace. "I insist."

Sakura looked down at the gift in her hands, stunned. Sasuke followed as silently as a ghost, an identical parcel of tea in his slender hands.

"That…was nice of him," she said, glancing at Sasuke unsurely. "Don't you think?"

For the first time since he'd accepted her invitation to accompany them to the market, Sasuke looked directly at her. His dark eyes were scorching and for a moment, she almost thought he looked troubled.

"Aa."

"S'up, Sakura-chan?" a voice said in her ear. She faced Naruto as he reappeared, sliding an arm over her shoulder.

"Hey," she said softly, stowing the tea in her pocket with her wallet. "Where did you go?"

He beamed, crowing like the boy who would never grow up. "To get this, of course! No one turns _me _down."

He held up a toad-shaped alarm clock. "It was a tough bargain, but I won out in the end, Sakura-chan!"

"Dobe," Sasuke sighed, staring off into the distance. "He gave in just to shut you up."

"Doesn't make it less of a victory," Naruto brushed the words aside with a wave of his hand. He stretched and broke off into a monstrous yawn. "Man, I'm beat!"

Sakura felt tired, too. The last seventy-two hours had been both emotionally and physically exhausting; all the weeks leading up to now were just as draining. She felt about ready to crash and burn.

"I think I'm going to go home," she said, "I feel pretty tired."

She ignored the probing look Naruto shot her way, grateful when he chose to keep his fretting to himself. Everything Inoichi confirmed for her that morning was too much to handle right now.

"Okay," Naruto said as Sasuke grunted. "You want me to walk you home, Sakura-chan?"

"Thanks," she replied, "I think I'll be alright, though."

"What about you, Sasuke? You need walking home like a little girl?"

Sasuke looked mildly irritated, but didn't rise to the bait as Sakura half-expected.

"I have stuff to do," was all he said, before abruptly departing. The two of them watched his retreating back for a moment in silence before exchanging a glance.

"Where's the bastard going?" he asked, curiosity evident in his voice.

"I don't know. I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto," Sakura said, tired and a little unsettled, though she didn't know why. She turned away as Sasuke's figure was swallowed up by the night.

"It'll all be better in the morning," he replied, as if he could see the confusion she felt. "You'll see."

Nodding, she waved half-heartedly and walked back to her apartment block. The night was pleasantly cool and the stars shone brightly down on the path, the air smelling sweet and strangely fragrant. _Like summer, _she thought distractedly, automatically heading for the window – and then pausing.

That was a habit born out of avoiding Sasuke. If she ever wanted to fix their friendship, maybe she should stop doing that.

For the first time in weeks, Sakura entered her apartment through the front door.

She closed it quietly shut behind her, thinking of births and healing and circles that were broken. While she waited for the kettle to boil, her mind could not help drifting back to the evening she'd spent in Sasuke and Naruto's company.

"It's not a big deal," she muttered to her empty living room. "It was just a walk among the stalls."

Just a walk…but didn't that mark a change? Around two months ago, as Sakura prepared for war and the possibility that she may have to face Sasuke on the battlefield, she'd never dared to dream that the three of them would ever be able to do anything so simple as take a walk together again. She'd resigned herself to the fact that the future she and Naruto had spent so long working towards was forever closed to her, and yet…

That very future seemed to be opening up again before her very eyes, the impossible made possible once more.

Sakura sighed and poured herself some jasmine tea to soothe her tired mind. Drifting towards her bedroom, she was unable to stop herself from recalling the look in Sasuke's eyes as he'd thanked her only twenty-four hours ago.

She was certain that he would always, to some extent, be angry. But since the trial, when he had shown he was capable of restraint even in the face of terrifying fury, a small crack had appeared in the armour she'd formed around her heart - and something she had not allowed herself for months was beginning to creep back in.

Sakura set her tea down on the desk and fished through the drawer, pulling out scrolls, hairbands, and her medic pouch until she found what she was looking for, buried at the very bottom. It was right where she'd left it the day she and Kakashi departed her apartment together, heading out to war.

She unfolded the battered photograph and stared at it in silence for a moment, before propping it against the wall on her chest of drawers.

Team Seven's innocent faces watched over her in sleep.

* * *

The night was dark and peaceful.

Sasuke walked slowly through the village, remembering another calm night. Konoha had slept obliviously on as his entire clan was massacred by one of their own. As he chased his brother through the streets, he felt terrified and so, so foolish. Like something from a nightmare, he thought now, except even he'd never feared something so awful. It'd never _occurred _to him to fear the very thing which had so unexpectedly become his waking reality.

Sasuke involuntarily started to recall the very specific way the blood had stuck to the soles of his shoes, wet and sticky, before he forcibly pushed the memories away. He would never forget the fate of his family, nor forgive the elders for ruthlessly, needlessly, destroying the lives of so many – but neither did he want to torture himself by dwelling on it every waking minute.

He'd done what was best for the clan his entire life, but now, as he walked the newly-built roads that ran through Konoha, he thought of his brother. He remembered Itachi – both the kind older brother who'd always made the time for him and tried to make him feel special, and the red-eyed shinobi who'd donned the cloak of Akatsuki. He remembered the way Itachi lurched towards him, blood dribbling from the corners of his mouth as he smiled.

A piercing sadness engulfed him then and Sasuke stopped, unable to go on. Silvery moonlight washed everything stark and pale, the road clear before him. He followed it with his eyes and found the village gates looming before him, wide open and ready for him.

_I could leave right now, _he thought, _and no one could stop me. If I wanted to, I could leave Konoha far behind and never come back. _

Sasuke knew how to evade those who would come searching for him, whether to plead with him or to kill him. He could do it. For a long moment, he stood frozen in the face of this possibility, Itachi's smiling face still stuck behind his eyelids.

But the thought of Naruto, of Sakura, and even Kakashi, made him hesitate. On another moonlit night, oh-so-many years ago now, he'd left them all behind…

"_I love you with all my heart….!" _Sakura's confession rang in his ears, a ghostly echo he'd never been able to shake. It had stayed in the furthest corner of his mind, along with Naruto's unshakable conviction in the bonds they shared. _"I'm going to knock some sense into you and bring you back to the village!"_

And then, Kakashi's voice from that very morning replayed in his head; _"I don't think they'd be able to survive you leaving a second time."_

"What am I supposed to do?" The words escaped him before Sasuke could hold them back, a question that reverberated on the cool night air. He inhaled deeply, trying to shut the world out as though an answer might come to him if he just listened hard enough.

Everything in his mind was stripped away until he hit one solid, immovable truth – that sad, blood-stained smile of Itachi's and what it meant. He felt a ghostly presence behind him, heard a whisper in his ear, a hand on his shoulder…

"_Be happy, little brother."_

He whipped around, heart beating fit to burst beneath his ribcage, but there was no one there. Sasuke stared at the deserted road behind him for many long moments, trying to make his heart be still – wondering if he'd only imagined Itachi's presence there. At last, when his body was calm again, he took one last look over his shoulder at the towering gates that led out into the wide world. The path disappeared there, swallowed up by shadows. But before him, the village was lit with the soft, gold glow of paper lanterns, and light that escaped the windows of hundreds of homes. Somewhere, there was music playing, the notes hovering sweetly on the air and making the night alive.

If Sasuke was anyone else, he would have smiled. In despair, he'd asked the night for answers - and the dead he loved had answered him.

_Be happy…_

* * *

Tsunade was leaning back in her chair, cradling a cup of sake in her hand and ignoring the gigantic stack of paperwork on her desk, when the door to her office quietly opened. Pale moonlight was beginning to spill through the windows as night settled in comfortably. Under the cover of darkness, she was drowning her various sorrows.

"Come in," she said softly, as a shadowed silhouette stepped across the threshold. On any other day, she would have barked acerbically at the rudeness of barging into the Hokage's office unannounced, but today was not like other days. Sakura's pale face flitted across her eyelids.

_Oh, Sakura, _she thought, the urge to bury her head in her hands stronger than ever, _you've gotten yourself into such a mess. _

"Hokage-sama," Uchiha Sasuke murmured coming to a halt before her desk, tall and undeniably handsome. One look at his face made her put the sake cup firmly down.

The few times she'd seen him in person, the boy had been an almost otherworldly figure – pale, expressionless, and somehow…cold. Almost wraith-like. Now, he looked much more human; his dark eyes were unreadable, but she could tell by the twist of his mouth that he was undergoing some sort of painful internal struggle. For the first time, she felt like she was looking at Sasuke – Team Seven's Sasuke, the Sasuke that Sakura had fallen in love with – and not at the Avenger persona he'd so carefully cultivated for years.

It was this that made her voice gentler than it otherwise might have been. "What can I do for you, Sasuke?" she asked.

As her mouth shaped his name, his eyes flickered to her face, the small frown between his brows deepening.

"I've considered your offer," he said quietly. "And I've come to a decision."

Tsunade found her hands clenching into tense fists under the desk, full of a sudden dread on behalf of her student and the boisterous blond she was so fond of. If Sasuke left them again, she did not think they would ever really recover from it…

But surely if he was going to leave, he wouldn't take the trouble to inform her?

"And that is?"

He seemed to hesitate for a long moment, as though teetering on a brink from which there could be no return. Her nails bit into the palms of her hands hard as she waited for his answer.

"I would like to be…reinstated as a shinobi of Konohagakure," he told her, head bowed. Inky strands of hair fell into his dark eyes and she remembered the comatose boy in the hospital bed, the way he'd looked at Sakura as she threw her arms around him. She remembered Sakura's determined gaze as she asked Tsunade to take her on as an apprentice and Naruto sitting forlornly at a ramen stand, still covered in gauze and bandages.

"I take it," she said, "that this means you've decided to stay? Are you certain that this is what you want?"

He was silent for a moment, more boy than anything else, and she could almost see what it was that made Team Seven so drawn to him. "You would allow me to leave?"

Tsunade folded her arms. "Yes," she said. "I can't say how long you'd last outside Konohagakure after what you did in the Land of Lightning, but I would never force you to stay here, Sasuke. Not after…"

To live in the place that had ordered the murder of everyone he'd loved was almost more than she expected of him. Dan had died in battle, but still, for years she could not bear to stay within the walls of the village he'd died for. She'd run as far and for as long as she could. A part of her wouldn't blame the boy if he tried to do the same.

But, as he seemed to have a knack for doing, he surprised her. "Konoha has always been home to the Uchiha clan," he murmured. "And being shinobi is all I know, Hokage-sama. I choose to stay."

She watched his face intently for many long heartbeats of silence, before nodding brusquely.

"Very well," she replied, folding her hands together and watching him over her pointed fingertips. "But do not forget that you are still on probation, Uchiha Sasuke. It'll be some time before I can put you on active duty again; you understand that, I'm sure."

"Aa."

Tsunade felt a smile flicker at the corners of her mouth, a wry expression that surely betrayed her age. The events of the past six months made her feel tired and suddenly very old. She opened the drawer of her desk and fished through it for a new hitai-ate. As she handed it to him, the leaf symbol engraved on the metal plate flashed in the moonlight streaming through the windows.

"Then welcome back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Sasuke," she said. "I think you'll find you've been missed."

He bowed stiffly, obviously taking that as a dismissal. As he turned back to the door, she found herself thinking of all the people she loved – the dead and the living. They loved the village fiercely when, for a long time, she hadn't. But as Hokage, she'd made a choice to return in order to serve the dreams of those she loved; both those who'd died in the village's name and those who still strived to protect it. Sasuke's loved ones were cold in the ground. For whom then, had he made this decision?

"Sasuke."

He turned slowly at the sound of his name, a shadowy figure stood in the doorway with dark eyes and an ethereal beauty born from the cracks, the fissures tragedy had wrought in him. He was a beautiful, broken thing, she thought sadly. She wondered if this brokenness would cut all those who came near him, like so many shards of glass – lovely in pieces, but shaped to hurt – or if he wasn't beyond some measure of healing.

"Why?" she asked, and he needed no further elaboration to understand what it was she was really asking. He dipped his head forward so that his bangs fell into his eyes, hiding whatever expression might lie there.

"Goodnight, Hokage-sama," Sasuke said quietly – and then he was gone.

Tsunade stared after him for a moment, eyes sharp and narrow. Then she sighed, very quietly and turned back to the cup of sake on her desk. It hit the back of her throat, making it burn. She thought of Dan and Nawaki – and then of Uchiha Itachi. But as she placed the empty cup back on her desk, it was Naruto and Sakura who surfaced in her mind. Though Sasuke hadn't acknowledged the question, she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

* * *

_fin_

* * *

**notes: well, guys, it's been a long journey but one I've thoroughly enjoyed making with you. **

**notes2: I have to give a special mention to **_**Sakura's Unicorn **_**for sticking with me through this fic from its start to the end, with wise words and lots of giggling along the way. Also, for being pretty darn super with a marker pen. Thanks C! You made these fifteen months and twenty one chapters a lot more fun than they would have otherwise been :)**

**a third and final note: I'm tempted to go cry in a corner because it's been a long journey to this point and I'm going to miss writing this…but just because **_**The Butterfly Effect **_**is finished, it doesn't mean the story is over. Keep a weathered eye on the horizon. The promise of a lifetime has been fulfilled, but we all want to know what happens next…**

**AN EDIT TO END THE CONFUSION: Yes. That there was a hint because sometimes I try to be subtle. But yes. Right now, I fully intend on continuing the story in an as-of-yet unnamed sequel. I haven't started it yet - there is another rather monstrous fic in the works right now which I think you will also enjoy - but at some point in the future YES. There will be more of this particular fic!verse. That's why it's so open ended. **

**And since it's my last chapter...please be extra good and review! **


End file.
